


Sweet Boy

by zoejane



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Cuddles, Diapers, Escape Attempts, Infantilism, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, Pacifiers, Temper Tantrums, bathtime, sippy cups
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-03 10:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5287523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoejane/pseuds/zoejane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lake Genevieve is a town where ageplay is widely accepted and catered to. Louis finds himself in the town after he is abducted by a certain Harry Styles, and is thrust into a world he didn't think possible. Now all he can do is adapt- or escape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sweet Boy

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting anything on ao3, so I'm pretty nervous about it. In addition to that, it's also my first time writing something ageplay related, so bare with me if it sucks! I'm pretty excited about this however and I already have a good portion written. Tell me what you think :)
> 
> The storyline also might be the most overused thing in existence, but I really wanted to give it a shot so I hope you guys don't mind :) Any ideas you'd like to see written in to the story would be very appreciated and I'd love to take them all into consideration! Thanks and happy reading!

Louis knew something wasn’t right. He was standing in his small studio apartment trying to remember whether or not he had left the hallway light on. He was usually so careful about those things, wanting to save as much money on his bills as possible. He frowned and walked towards his room. It was a Sunday night, meaning his shift at Jameson’s had left him thoroughly exhausted. The bar had always been the local hotspot for Sunday night football and for some reason Louis’ manager seemed to always schedule him for it. Collapsing on his bed, Louis just wanted to close his eyes and never have to see hot wings or beer ever again. 

The bed felt so good after a long day on his feet, and kicking off his shoes he finally felt he was going to be able to relax. He breathed in the scent of his blanket, the smell of fabric softener soothing him. Thinking about this moment all day made the bar bearable. 

And then, there was a knock at the door.

Louis groaned into his bed and contemplated not answering it. He didn’t feel like seeing anyone else. But then he thought about how the apartment maintenance was supposed to come and fix the dishwasher. The thing had gotten itself broken and now it was leaking water whenever he ran it. Still, it seemed late for maintenance to drop by, but Louis didn’t let the thought bother him. The apartment manager, Lucille, knew Louis got home late from work anyways. She had probably told the maintenance man to drop by when he saw Louis pull into the complex. It was supposed to be a quick fix, nothing over twenty minutes.

Louis lazily ran a hand through his hand and smiled at the thought of not having to wash dishes by hand anymore. He could postpone his sleep for now.

He opened the door, expecting to see David with his bag of tools, but instead was greeted by someone else. This man he didn’t recognize. 

Louis frowned. “Yes?” 

The man with the long hair smiled down at him. “I’m so sorry, I hope I’m not bothering you. I just moved in last week and I realized I left my keys at my friend’s house. I was wondering if you had a phone I could use to call him?” 

Louis sighed. He wasn’t getting his dishwasher fixed after all. “Yeah, okay. Come in. Sorry my place is a wreck, I work a lot.” He blushed as the man took in the sight in front of him. There was a pizza box on the couch from the day before and from the entranceway you could see a stack of plates in the sink. Even so, the man didn’t seem to mind the mess. He only smiled at Louis as he handed over his cell phone.

Louis stood awkwardly as the man took a seat on his couch. He pressed the number on the screen and put the phone up to his ear. “This’ll only take a second.” He said to Louis before shifting his eyes down to his shoes. The backpack that had been lazily thrown over his shoulder when he entered the apartment was set on the floor.

Once the man began talking on the phone, Louis turned around and began to rapidly clean up his place, picking up armfuls of trash from the dining room table and bringing them to the garbage pail. He had never been embarrassed of his mess before, but for some reason this man made him feel self-conscious.

“Yeah, I can’t believe I left them there. You have my address, right?”

The man stood up while talking and entered the kitchen just as Louis was about to leave. The shorter boy blushed again and backed away. 

“See you then.”

Ending the call, the man gave the phone back to Louis. 

“Everything okay?” Louis asked quietly, wanting to try to make normal conversation so he didn’t seem like a child. The man nodded then looked at Louis as if seeing him for the first time.

“I just realized I didn’t introduce myself. I’m so sorry, I must seem rude. I’m Harry Styles.” He put out his hand for Louis to shake. 

“Louis. Louis Tomlinson. It’s nice to meet you.” 

“This is a nice place.” Harry said as he looked around once more. “Nice appliances. This is one of the better apartment complexes in town. They take care of you here?” He looked to Louis curiously. Louis furrowed his eyebrows, wondering why Harry was speaking as if observing the place for the first time. 

“Yeah, it’s nice. The people who run it are nice. You’ve met Emily, right? The apartment manager?” Louis looked up at Harry slowly, testing him.

The man didn’t hesitate. “Of course. She was the one I spoke to when I rented.” This was enough to make Louis stiffen. He was suddenly alert. He’d given him the wrong name and Harry didn’t catch on to the mistake. Something was wrong.

This man didn’t live here.

Trying to keep a calm composure, Louis scratched his head and looked towards the door. “Your friend will meet you at your apartment, right? I don’t mean to kick you out, it’s just that I had a long day at work and I’m dying to get into bed.” He shifted his weight from his right leg to his left, wanting to get away from the man as soon as possible. This gesture didn’t go unnoticed from Harry, who took it as a sign that the young boy was becoming suspicious of him. He bit his lip.

He had hoped to have more time to talk with Louis casually, but it appeared to him now that it was time to go. He took a step forward and Louis took a step back. Glancing quickly at the door, he knew that he would be able to overpower Louis quickly before he had the chance to escape. Even if the boy did manage to get out of the house, Liam was waiting in the car. He would have nowhere to run.

Smiling sweetly at Louis, he tried to make the process as gentle as possible. 

“Louis…” He began, but Louis didn’t allow him to say anything further. 

The boy stumbled backwards, hand reaching out for something to grab as a weapon. When his fingers clutched at a table lamp that was beside the couch, he pulled it, causing the cord to snap out of the wall. He held it beside his head in defense at the taller man. 

“Don’t.” He whispered. “Don’t take another step towards me. Walk out now, and we can forget any of this happened. I won’t call the police.”

Harry sighed. He had expected Louis would be difficult. But then again, that was one of the reasons why he had set his sights on him. Harry never was one to back away from a challenge. And maybe, if he was drunk enough, you could get him to admit that he even enjoyed it.

“Louis. Put the lamp down before you hurt yourself.” 

Louis’ eye twitched at Harry’s soft voice, which sounded anything but what he expected a robbing murderer to sound like. He was trying to figure out why Harry was staying so calm, why he hadn’t already pulled a gun on him. The entire situation was strange.

Louis tilted his head to the side. He still held the lamp firmly in his hand. “What are you doing? What do you want from me?”

Harry smiled, taking yet another step. “If you just put the lamp down, I’ll be more than happy to bring you up to speed on everything. But that’s not going to happen unless you sit down on the couch and be the good boy I know you can be.” Of course, Harry knew he was lying. Even if Louis did surrender, he wouldn’t be finding anything out tonight. They had a long drive back and Harry was looking forward to bringing the kid home.

“You’ll have to kill me first.”

Harry tsked at him. Already being difficult. 

“Now, why would I do that? Please, Louis. Sit.”

But Louis would be damned if he did that. This was his house and he would not be taken hostage inside of it. Acting on instinct, he took a swing at Harry with the lamp, hitting the man in the face. Harry gasped out loud as he clutched at his cheekbone. Louis didn’t have time to look back if he had done any damage, but if he had, he would’ve looked smug.

Not staying for anymore fun and games, the boy made a run for the door, hand around the doorknob just as he felt Harry’s hand make a grab at his shirt. Unfortunately for Harry, Louis was much faster than he had anticipated and the boy made a big enough struggle against him that the door was flung open and he was barreling down the stairs in no time.

“Louis William.” Harry’s voice growled as he stumbled after the boy. This was definitely not how he had pictured the night to go. 

Louis didn’t have time to wonder how the hell the man knew his middle name, because he was too busy running for his life down the sidewalk. He took a shortcut through a rocky patch, hoping to disorient Harry as to where his location was, but let out a whimper as he felt the rocks on his feet- the only barrier being his socks.

He could see the manager’s office now, could see the light on it. Lucille was still inside like she always was doing last minute paperwork. Louis was just about to scream out her name when a hand pulled itself around his face, effectively covering his small before he could even take a breath. 

Another arm was wrapped around his waist, and he found himself pinned to a body. He wiggled trying to break free, but this man was stronger than him.

“Shh” A voice whispered to him as he was dragged away from the office. His hands reached out as if to clutch the image of the building, but there was nothing he could do. Then out of nowhere, he watched as Harry walked up in front of him. There were two of them? Louis groaned, that information would have been helpful when he was trying to make his mad dash to safety. 

Harry bent down slightly as to make proper eye contact. He still held one hand over his face, but was smiling eagerly at the boy.

“Louis, I wish you didn’t struggle so much. You’re just making yourself weaker. But don’t worry, I’m going to get you home soon. When you wake up, everything will be better. Now just settle down. It’ll be so much easier for you, darling.”

Louis squinted his eyes at the psycho in front of him. Where were they going to take him? The fear of the unknown was scarier than being held, and he suddenly found himself struggling even harder than before. Harry sighed, his pep talk hadn’t done any good. Still, he had Louis right where he wanted them. With Liam’s help, Louis wouldn’t be able to get out of his sight again.

Reaching into his bag that he thankfully had remembered to grab before he had chased Louis out of the apartment, he pulled out a water bottle that he had already prepared. Two tablets of the good stuff dissolved into it. That was all he needed. All Louis needed to fall into a good sleep for a few hours.

He unscrewed the cap and looked up at Liam, signaling with his eyes that he was ready for him to uncover his mouth. Louis saw what was going on and moaned louder against Liam’s hand. He wasn’t about to be drugged, this wasn’t happening. He had to get out of there. 

Louis’ scream only pierced the air for a fraction of a second before Harry had pressed the water bottle up to his lips, turning it upwards so he was forced to drink or else he would choke. As Louis felt the liquid go down his throat, he knew that he had lost. He stopped struggling knowing his efforts were futile and allowed Harry to pour the contents into his mouth. 

The effect of the drugs Harry had dissolved into the water was gradual. First, Louis lost control of his arms and legs. No longer being able to support himself to stand, he went limp against Liam who worked to hold him up so he wouldn’t fall. At this point, Louis was openly crying. And the hell of it all, if he didn’t deserve to be scared. This was madness.

Harry looked down at the boy and cooed to him, wiping away the droplets that were running down his puffy cheeks. “Sweet boy, don’t cry on me. Come one, it’s all okay. I’m not going to hurt you, don’t be scared.”

But Harry’s voice sounded like it was melting, as Louis was beginning to fade away. He let out one last whimper before everything went black, the drug officially putting him to sleep. When his eyes closed, Harry knew that the job was done.

Liam groaned, still holding the boy up against him. Not because he was struggling, but because the entire thing had been an event. Harry looked at him gratefully as he passed Louis on to him. Harry threw the small boy over his shoulder and the two men made their way back to the car that had been parked right in front of Louis’ apartment. If only Louis had been paying more attention to his surroundings when he arrived home, he would have noticed the out of place car. 

But it was too late for that. Louis was exactly where he was supposed to be: in Harry’s arms.

“Poor thing is all tuckered out. He’ll probably keep sleeping even after the drug wears off.” Harry ran his hand over the boy’s forehead as he gently laid him in the backseat of Liam’s car. Taking care to cover his body with a blanket, he smiled at the sight before him. Louis truly was perfect in all senses. He felt more eager than ever looking down at him, and had to resist the urge to cuddle up with him. There would be plenty of time for that later.

The two men drove off into the night, a sleeping boy in the backseat and smiles on their faces at a job done without any serious faults. Well, besides the fact that his boy was a very clever escape artist. But Harry would have to deal with that later. He had more important things on his mind.


	2. Our First Day (Part I)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you guys seemed to like the first chapter! I was really nervous with posting this story, but I'm glad I did! I'm going to try to update once a week, maybe either on Wednesdays or Tuesdays, so remember to look out on those dates for new chapters. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! It means a lot to me that people are actually interested in this. I also want to say that I appreciate all the comments you all left, they really made my week! I hope you enjoy this new chapter.
> 
> Happy reading!

Liam pulled up to the large brick house Harry was proud to be able to call his own. It was night so it was hard to see, but in the daytime a bright green lawn would be visible as well as a bed of tulips on either side of the front door. The mailbox was painted cleanly in white and the ferns lining the driveway were always properly trimmed and kept in good health. However, his biggest pride could be found in the backyard and was a good sized vegetable garden. Even though Harry had a gardener come to his home a few times a week to tend to the lawn and clean up around outside, he was the only one who ever tended to his garden. 

He had spent many hours in it weekly to get it to where it was now: thriving with beautifully colored vegetables, juicier than any grocery store could ever provide. Harry loved his garden, and he hoped that Louis would learn to love it just as much as he did. Even though there was no way he would trust Louis with any gardening tools at the moment, he could see in the future, when Louis was a bit older of course, him beginning to teach him a little about tending to it. He smiled at the thought of Louis digging around in the dirt helping to plant spring vegetables.

Liam unlocked the doors as to allow Harry to leave the car and retrieve his boy from the backseat.

“Thank you so much for taking me tonight.” Harry whispered to his good friend. “I really do appreciate it. I couldn’t have done it on my own.”

Liam smiled. “Of course. You know I’ve been looking forward to this as much as you have. I’m so happy for you. You’re finally settling down with a little one.”

It was 2:00 in the morning now, and Harry yawned as he watched Liam pull out of the driveway and head to his own home, which was just around the corner. Lake Genevieve was a cozy community, consisting of several dozen homes and a nice sized shopping center. Despite the conveniences of stores that catered to the needs of those living there, Harry’s favorite part of the community was the park and beachside. Lake Genevieve had been built around a beautiful lake, as the name suggests, which was kept pristine. In the warmer seasons, families would head just across the field and down the hill that made up the playground in order to get to the lake. Harry had taken almost too many beautiful pictures of the area.

The front door was opened and Harry turned on the light switch, brightening the entire front hall. Careful to support Louis’ head, he slipped off his shoes and dropped his bag on the floor. He wanted to make sure to get Louis ready for bed. Harry wasn’t sure when the boy would wake up, but he could figure that he would continue to rest easier once he was settled down in his crib.

Okay, maybe Harry was kidding himself about the garden being his favorite place of the house. Maybe his favorite place was Louis’ room. He had spent so many weeks planning out the design of the room and getting everything in order. The walls were custom painted bright blue and had details fitting the cutest Finding Nemo theme Harry could come up with. His crib was painted the same blue and an underwater mobile hung above it. The rug was plush and white, and a huge toybox represented an underwater treasure chest. Of course, it was stocked full of all the toys Harry thought Louis could ever want. Even so, he would be sure to bring Louis to the toy shop to pick out his own favorites as soon as he trusted him to behave.

The dresser and changing table were one, making changing Louis for bed much easier. The boy was set down on the table gently, as if he were made of glass. Harry dared not do anything that would startle him awake, just incase the drugs weren’t as efficient as he’d been promised they were. Pants and shirt were peeled off of him, revealing a soft, round tummy that Harry was dying to blow raspberries into it. The man ran his hands down Louis’ arms, reveling in the feel of soft skin. Sometime this week he would give Louis his hair removal treatment.

Gently, he pulled down the kid’s boxers and reached into the side pocket of the dresser to retrieve a diaper. He smiled at the material, it was an Elmo print. He set it under Louis before he wiped and powdered the boy to make sure he would be clean and comfortable in it. It was then pulled over him and the tabs made secure. 

Because it was chilly outside being October, he dressed his boy in warm fleece footie pajamas with a cute boat pattern on them. 

Louis was perfect. He had known it before, but now looking down at him dressed for bed, Harry was the most sure he had ever been of it. 

Louis was set down in his crib, though not covered with his blanket since Harry figured his warm pajamas would do enough to keep him nice and toasty.He didn’t want him to overheat and wake up hot in the morning. His thoughts were confirmed when he watched as Louis seemed to snuggle into the pillow beside him, making a happy sounding grunt. The boy was enjoying his sleep and Harry was glad.

With almost everything in place, Harry was just about ready to sleep himself. It had a been a long and eventful day and Harry was pleased that despite some issues, it had ended up successful. Clicking on the mobile which glowed blue and green lights around the room, and turning on the baby monitor, he left the room feeling better than he had in years.

\---

Louis was staring up at the same man who had attacked him at his apartments in disbelief. He wasn’t sure how much time had went by, or where he was now, but his memories were intact. He remembered being grabbed by the other man and being forced to drink a water bottle that had, his first suspicions confirmed, been laced with some kind of drug. He remembered losing control of his legs and arms and then finally dozing off into a sleep.

And apparently, he had been delivered here during it. He had waken up confused and scared at the sight of long blue wooden bars and a banging feeling around his temples. He had thought he was dead before he heard the slight twinkling noise of the mobile that was spinning above him. It was then when he knew he was actually in hell. Then, that horrible man Harry had entered the room with the most hopeful look on his face. The man grinned at the sight of Louis awake in his crib and looked down at him with a pleasant smile.

“Good morning, my love. How is Louis feeling today?” 

Louis squinted at him, trying to figure out what to do or what to say. He had no idea what was going on. Maybe this was all a joke. Even so, it seemed a pretty terrible prank to play on someone, making them believe they were being abducted and then dressing them up in an outfit fit for a toddler, allowing them to wake up in a crib. Analyzing the situation about him, he knew everything was too planned, too precise. This wasn’t a joke, this was real.

“Excuse me?” Louis whispered. It seemed as if his voice was unwilling to speak up. His throat felt dry as well in addition to his head aching. With all of these ailments, Louis was trying his best to keep calm in a situation that would make anybody freak out into a fit. Louis, however, knew that his best chance of getting out alive included him not making any sudden movements. If he tried to attack Harry, there would be no telling what he would do to him. He had to consider his surroundings. First of all, he was in a crib that would be complicated climbing out of without falling. Next to that, he had no idea where he was- whether he was in an abandoned building or a house. And even if he did manage to escape, where would he go?

There was a good chance Harry knew the area better than Louis did. 

No, Louis had to stay calm right now. Even if Harry’s smile made him want to clock him in the jaw.

“What nice manners my sweet boy has.” Harry looked down at Louis in awe, choosing to ignore the obvious angry disbelief that Louis had spoken with. “I asked how you were darling. Is my little boy feeling okay? The doctor told me you might have a little headache when you woke up. When we get downstairs, I’ll give you some nice medicine to help you feel better.”

Reaching down, Harry attempted to clutch Louis under his arms to pick him up, but was startled when Louis quickly sprung away, backing as far away into the crib as he could get. Harry shook his head, but smiled. 

“I should have known you wouldn’t be so easy. You’re a little challenge, aren’t you?” 

“What is this?” Louis asked. He looked suspiciously around himself once more and eyed Harry cautiously, taking in the full details of his captor. He would need to be able to describe him to the police when he found a way out of here.

Harry took a breath. “Daddy would be happy to explain all of these new things to you, but you have to trust him and let him help you get ready for the day. Can you do those that for him?”

If Louis had anything at all in his stomach, he could have thrown it all up right then. Maybe his hearing was mistaken, but he was fairly certain he had just heard this madman refer to himself as his Daddy. It was then when Louis realized the expanse of the trouble he had found himself in the middle of. No, this man wasn’t looking to kill him. He was looking to play house. He wanted Louis to be his baby.

And there was no way in holy hell that Louis was okay with that. 

Louis leant forward with a newfound confidence at his sudden realization. His voice was still barely a whisper from him not having something to drink for God knows how long. “Listen to me right now. Whatever kind of sick fantasy of yours this is, I am not interested in playing in it. I don’t know who you are, or what kind of delusion you’re having right now, but you’re not thinking straight. This is all a mistake.”

Louis figured that maybe if he tried to reason with the man, he would be let off the hook. Maybe the man would realize what he was doing was insane and completely wrong. 

“Just let me go, and we can both forget any of this happened. You seemed like a nice guy yesterday, until you went crazy on me. There must be some kind of reasonable man in your head. I need you to find him and get him to help you understand that none of this is right. You need to let me go. There’s no other option.”

Louis stopped, nearly out of breath. However, now he was shaking. It dawned over him that maybe this man was willing to kill him. Maybe this is what he did, abducted random people to act as his children and killed them when they didn’t go along with his fantasy. Suddenly he wished he had just kept quiet.

However, Harry didn’t pull out a gun or smack him in the face. He just looked down fondly at him.

“My little boy is so smart, just look at all those big words he knows. Now, put away those silly thoughts and let Daddy pick you up.” Louis stared up at him with wide eyes. Had the man ignored every word he said?

Harry of course, had listened well and clear to Louis. He was impressed by the boy’s confidence but had felt bad when he started to shake after his little speech. He had to fight the urge to explain what was going on further to him. He had gone through months of counseling and classes to get ready for this moment. All of his instructors had walked him through nearly every scenario that could take place when taking a little one home and what he had to do in all of them to reassert his place as Daddy. 

The one thing that remained the same between all of the instructions was that whatever happened, he had to put aside any first fears about what was going on. Waking up in a strange new place would be disorienting for any baby, and showing right away what you expected from them was crucial. There would be a later time to explain things in a way that a little one could understand. The first meeting, however, was not that time.

Harry made another reach for Louis, but this time Louis wasn’t as forgiving. As soon as Harry’s hands came near him, he hit them away, forceful enough that Harry could feel a slight sting on his forearms. 

The man sighed again. “Louis. That wasn’t nice. We don’t hit, do you understand?”

“But you abduct?” Louis said between his teeth. He was trying his best not to lash out too much. Keeping calm was important in a situation like this, no matter how scary it was for him. He would have never admit it though. Louis had never been the loudest one of his friends. Sure, he was competitive and yelled when it came to videogames and he wasn’t the person sitting in the corner who was terrified of parties, but he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t the most comfortable around new people. That fear of the unknown he had always disguised behind a smiling face and a bold laugh. 

Harry knew this. So when he saw Louis giving him a deadly glare, he knew that it was just another version of his uncertain demeanor. Besides, he didn’t want to punish the baby on his first day there. Not when he didn’t lay out the rules first of what he expected. 

Instead, he decided to try another tactic to earn his compliance.

He smiled at the boy after he bent down and picked up a bottle that had been left at the bottom of the crib a few hours earlier. He waved it at him. “Would you like some more water, Louis?”

Louis’ eyes widened. He weighed the options in his mind. Being unconscious and unaware of what was going on around him or being conscious and aware. Against every single piece of himself, he knew the better choice.

Louis sighed, closing his eyes as he was ready to give himself up to the man. He looked up with an expression of someone who had lost a battle. When Harry didn’t make any moves towards him, he looked at him strangely.

“What are you waiting for?” Louis said.

“Come on, reach for Daddy.” 

Louis was beginning to question his choice. Being unconscious would have surely saved him the burning red embarrassment that Harry was asking of him. But still, he bit his tongue and did what was asked of him.

Louis reached his arms up towards Harry, waiting for him to pick him up. Sitting cross legged at this point, he made no other actions. He just wanted this entire experience to be over. How could he ever explain to anyone what he was being made to do? He wasn’t even sure if he could bare telling police about his experience. And then what about his friends? That might be even worse.

“Louis wants to be picked up? Daddy’ll pick you up, sweet boy.” And Harry lifted Louis into the air much to Louis’ surprise. He weighed a good amount, but still Harry seemed to have to problems hoisting him up onto his hip. Louis clutched to his shirt, the sudden realization hitting him that he could be dropped at any moment.

“Daddy has you. Don’t worry.” Harry whispered into the boy’s hair as he carried him to the changing station. Laying him down on his back, Louis was unsure of what was going on. However, when Harry strapped down his arms and ankles, he knew that he wasn’t going to have any of it.

“You bastard, what are you doing to me?” He tried to thrash about but it was too late. He was already secured onto the table. He could only stare at Harry who stood above him, seeming like a giant. He froze when he felt Harry’s warm hands clasp onto the zipper right under his chin and begin to unzip the suit he’d been forced into probably when he was unconscious.

Harry smiled once Louis’ tummy was once again revealed to him. He loved that thing.

The man gave a playful look to Louis before pressing his lips to it and blowing, the one thing he’d been waiting to do for months. Louis’ skin was just so soft and warm. Just like a baby.

In shock, Louis’ lips parted and he continued to look Harry in the eyes. 

“You have the cutest little tummy I’ve ever seen, Louis.” Harry cooed to him, taking care to stroke the side of his face. Louis tilted his head to the right, trying his best to avoid the touch. This man really was crazy. Maybe he had been underestimating him. In truth, he didn’t know what he was capable of. In Louis’ mind, anyone who was sick enough to strap a grown man to a table to blow on his stomach was a little bit off in the head.

“Please.” Louis whispered, his voice shaking now. Now he couldn’t deny that he was getting really scared. Being locked into a crib was one thing, but being undressed and strapped onto a table with something else entirely. He didn’t want something bad to happen to him. He was defenseless, completely at the will of Harry.

Harry only looked down at him pitifully. “Does my baby not like the straps? Don’t worry, they’re only there so I can make sure you don’t hurt Daddy or yourself. I’ll change you real quick.”

“What? Change me?” Louis’ felt his heart begin to pick up. Harry couldn’t possibly have meant… Oh, but he did.

He couldn’t stop the gasp that came out of his mouth when the rest of his sleeping gear was unzipped. Stretching his head forward, he could see clear as day that there was a diaper wrapped nicely around his hips. Harry, seeming to have expected the outburst to come, was already prepared. 

“Did you do this to me? You undressed me in my sleep, you put this thing on me-” Louis was speaking so fast he was starting to run out of breath. “You-You can’t do this. This isn’t right, this needs to stop. Let me go! Let me go!” The thrashing started again, though it wasn’t very successful with the straps in place.

Louis’ pleading didn’t last forever though, because Harry was quick to strap something around his head and into his mouth. Louis nearly gagged at the strange sensation of something rubbery being pushed between his lips. He could no longer speak properly. All of his sounds coming out of his mouth were now only mumbles.

“Louis, there’s no need to get so worked up. Daddy’s doing this to help you stay nice and clean. Just relax and suck on your paci. You’re going to work yourself up so much you’ll get sick. Now, that’s the last thing we want, isn’t it?”

Paci. The man had stuck a damn pacifier in his mouth to shut him up. Louis looked around frantically for something, though he wasn’t sure what for. Even if he did see something to bash Harry in the head with once again, he wouldn’t be able to reach for it. A cold feeling rushed into his stomach as he felt Harry’s hands on the diaper. They pulled at the tabs, willing them to undo and suddenly the thing was off of him and he was exposed.

“Hmmmhmhmm!” He tried to yell behind the paci but he couldn’t. Harry shushed him as he reached to the side to grab a new diaper.

“Louis didn’t go in his diaper last night. He has to go soon.” Harry looked at him sternly and tapped on his tummy. “You’ll make yourself sick if you don’t go.”

At the mention of using the restroom, Louis suddenly realized he had to go. This man, Harry, couldn’t possibly expect him to use the diaper? That would be beyond mad, that would be sick. There was no way he was ever going to be reduced to that. For the moment, he pushed back the urge, biting down on the rubber of the pacifier. He could figure out a way to go later. 

The scent of baby powder suddenly overwhelmed him. This was after he struggled against the cold wipes Harry had rubbed all over his lower half. He continued to struggle, feeling ill from someone he didn’t even know doing this to him. He didn’t want to be exposed like this, he wanted to be home. Hell, he would work Super Bowl at the bar if it meant he could get out of this mess. 

And the way Harry was talking to him all the while wasn’t helping him.

“My baby is all clean now. Don’t you feel clean?” The baby voice Harry was talking to him in was nauseating. However, it wasn’t the voice that got the first tears to fall down his cheeks, it was what he said to him with it.

“Today, some very special guests are coming over to see you. Isn’t that exciting? Louis will get to make some new friends.” Harry stopped at the sight of tears. “Oh baby, why are you crying?”

People were coming over to see him? Louis couldn’t think of anything worse. Having to be put in front of people in this demeaning manner, wearing a diaper. Louis knew that was something he could never recover from. Louis already felt burning secondhand embarrassment when someone did so much as trip in public. How was he going to handle being the one on display?

The boy shook his head rapidly, trying his best to form understandable words through the rubber.

“Nmmph.” 

“What’s that, Louis? Do you have something to tell Daddy?”

“Nmmph!” 

Harry only smiled to himself, of course he had given Harry the oversized paci. His normal one would be must easier to talk behind. However, Harry knew from the countless stories from his friends that the first diaper change would startle the entire neighborhood if he didn’t do something to stop Louis from screaming. This just seemed like the obvious solution. He felt bad quieting his little boy like this, but it had to be done. 

With a new diaper secured on him, Louis was picked up once again. This time, however, he was pleased to realize that Harry was carrying him into a new area of the house. At least he could finally get a sense of here he was and what the setup was like. Then, escaping this nightmare would be a much easier feat. 

“You’ve been a very sleepy boy, Louis.” Harry started to mindlessly talk to Louis.

Yeah. Maybe because you drugged me. Louis was busy thinking of things he would say back to Harry, if only he could. The pacifier was still plugged into his mouth.

“It’s already 4:00! Daddy’s been busy making some yummy food all afternoon for our guests. We’re going to have ourselves a little dinner party to celebrate your arrival. Doesn’t that sound like fun?” Harry trailed down the hallway and down a flight of steps. The two found themselves in an open living room dining room area. Looking over Harry’s shoulder, Louis could see a small kitchen with an open breakfast bar. Harry was right. The kitchen looked like a mess, plates and dishes scattered everywhere. There was a pot on the stove that he could hear the contents inside bubbling.

“We have an hour before your new friends will show up. Now, I can take your paci out, but only if you promise to be a good boy. Can Louis do that for me?” Louis nodded his head frantically. Anything to get the rubber torture device out of his face. He desperately wanted to stretch his mouth.

Harry chuckled at what he saw as a baby’s enthusiasm, and gently unstrapped the device. Louis immediately opened his mouth and rolled around his jaw. Another gesture he misinterpreted.

“My baby is still tired?” He said with wide eyes. “Well, would you like to go into your bouncer?”

“Actually, what I would like is for you to put me down.” Louis said with snark as he began yet another attempt to wiggle out of Harry’s death grip. He no longer feared the drop. He had long figured out that it would be better than anything Harry had in store for him.

“My, I had no idea that babies used such big words.” Harry said quietly, mostly ignoring the attitude Louis had used on him. Once he had turned around, Louis’ mouth dropped. The bouncer, which Harry had been talking about, was right in the living room. It was like one that was actually used for babies, yet bigger to accommodate his grown size. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Is this for real?” He pulled his legs up higher, scrunching them together, as Harry attempted to lower him into the seat. “Come on man, this is ridiculous. What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?”

Harry still managed to position him nicely in the seat. He moved some toys on the hanger above Louis’ head and playfully swatted at one, as if to try and get Louis to do the same.

“Daddy knows you’re very worried about everything that’s going on, but he wants you to know that you’re very safe and very loved here. We’re going to have some yummy food and you’re going to get to play with some new playmates.” Harry mentally praised himself for forcing himself to not be harsher on his little boy. His counselors all told him that if he laid out punishments in the beginning, it would be much more difficult long term to get Louis to love and respect him.  
His current counselor, Ms Hamilton, had given him so much guidance the final weeks before he was set to go out and take in Louis. She was a very pleasant lady, 34 years old, who was passionate about Lake Genevieve. However, it was her background that intrigued Harry the most.

She herself had been taken into the community by a Daddy when she was just 18 years old. Ms Hamilton lived as a little for years until her Daddy was killed in a car crash outside the community. Harry had heard the entire story from her, and was fascinated by how she had to adjust to the sudden change and recover from his death. She was taken in by a Mommy shortly after the accident, but it was never the same for her and she decided instead to become one of the biggest voices of the place.

It was her experience that made her possibly the best counselor in the community. She knew what the littles ones felt when they were taken in at first, and understood the best ways to appease them. Even in the upcoming weeks Harry knew she would continue to be of help to him and Louis. He was planning on having Louis meet her soon- he hoped that she would be a good person to talk to Louis about what he was experiencing.

Louis, however, sitting in his bouncer, was only getting more nervous by the second. He was still unsure of what Harry was planning to do with him. One second he didn’t feel threatened by the man, and the next second he did. Was he supposed to feel scared? Or just paranoid of what was going to happen next? He wanted his heart to be pumping, senses buzzing, like some kind of adrenaline rush, but it wasn’t happening. That was what was scaring him the most.

Of course, Harry would never tell him, but the drug wasn’t only meant to put him to sleep, but it would also linger in his system for a few days to avoid those struggles and panics that littles were known to endure on their first arrival. It made them calmer. Less likely to lash out.

Ms Hamilton was actually the one who invited the drugs into the community to be used as a way to ease the young into their new place. 

“All for the benefit of parent and child.” She had assured Harry. He felt comfortable trusting her.


	3. Our First Day (Part II)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another chapter! Just to let you all know, I'm on the Pacific Time Zone so for me it's only about 5:40 when posting this. So for you guys living elsewhere the updates might be a little later. I hope you don't mind!
> 
> This is the second part to the little celebration Harry threw for Louis. Some new people are introduced as well. As always, I really appreciate the comments you guys leave! They're so sweet and I love reading what you all think. Thank you so much for taking the time to read! I hope you enjoy :)

“Alright, honey bunches. I’m going to let you go on the carpet now and play with your toys. Your new friends are going to be arriving soon. Won’t that be fun?” Louis looked at Harry skeptically as he was clutched under his arms and lifted like a baby onto the floor. For the first time he had been in the room he realized that the floor was covered with child’s toys. A case of those Lego Duplo blocks some of his younger cousins used to play with, little toy cars, among other things. Louis stared at the items motionlessly as Harry watched him with concern.

“Don’t you want to play with your new toys, baby?” Harry spoke to him with a sickeningly sweet voice that made Louis want to melt into the floor. “Do you need help?”

Yes, because Louis, a full grown adult, needed help stacking oversized blocks together.

“No.” He looked up at Harry with an extra grumpy look which made Harry chuckle. His little Louis had already been with him for only a few hours, and he was already too cute for words. Harry knew that the little man was going to be a handful the following few weeks, but he was ready for it. He was excited to begin this new phase of his life with a little one beside him.

Ignoring Louis, Harry decided to take a quick break from his cooking and sat down on the rug next to his boy. He opened the lid of the Duplo blocks and began to take them out. 

“Daddy used to love Legos when he was a little boy. Does my Louis like Legos too?”

“No.” Another short, hardened response. Harry wasn’t phased though. He insisted on finding out everything he didn’t already know about the boy. He wouldn’t give up so easily.

“Well, what toys does my baby like then?”

Louis crossed his arms over his chest, looking away from Harry as he took in the sight of the room for the hundredth time. He was currently figuring out his escape route. Maybe if he could get his hands on one of those blocks and hit Harry over the head with it…

“I don’t like toys.” He said with an annoyance to his voice. “I don’t like toys, because I’m not a child. But you wouldn’t know that, because apparently you have difficulty seeing that I’m 22 years old and not something that needs to be kept busy in a baby bouncer.”

Harry listened carefully to Louis, making sure to keep good eye contact so the boy knew he was listening to him. Ms Hamilton always told him that open communication between parent and baby would build trust faster. Louis would feel better to know that Harry was paying attention to him.

“You’re such a silly little boy. Daddy’s silly little boy.” Harry smiled and reached over to ruffle Louis’ hair, but not before the boy could swat his hand away from him. The man frowned as he looked down at the kid, who was growing redder by the second. Still, he couldn’t tell if it was from anger or embarrassment, or possibly a combination of both.

“No hitting, Louis. That’s bold. We don’t have to feel bad about liking toys. See, even Daddy likes playing with Louis’ fun Legos.” Harry smiled as he connected two bricks together, holding them up to show Louis. He hoped that playing alongside his boy would encourage him to join in, but so far, Louis was only watching and refused to even look at the box of toys. 

“There is one thing” Louis said suddenly, looking up at Harry with somewhat of a mischievous look in his eye. He pushed himself up onto his knees so he could be at a better eye level with his captor. 

“Yes, what is it, baby?”

“How about we play some Fifa? Or maybe GTA. I’ve gotten really good at it the past few months. In fact, I play five hours every single night. If you want to make me happy with a toy, that’s what you should get for me. Then I’ll gladly sit on your rug in this clown suit.”

Harry was staring at Louis, wondering what the best way to deal with a troublesome little boy was, when he was saved by the doorbell ringing. A new parent, he was still a little nervous about what to do and say to Louis despite how many hours he had spent preparing for this moment with his counselors. He immediately felt better at the thought of having a more experienced parent here with him. He wondered who it was who had shown up first.

Louis was left on the rug and watched curiously as Harry jumped up and practically ran to the door. He couldn’t help but start to become nervous when he realized he was about to be introduced to the people Harry had been talking about earlier.

The front door was opened to one of Harry’s best friends, Lillian, and her little boy Niall. The two adults greeted each other by pulling in for a long hug. From a distance, Louis watched and became frozen at what was about to ensue.

“It’s so good to see you, Lily. What has it been? A month? Far too long. Please, come in.”

The woman was wearing her usual attire which consisted of a black blazer and skirt. She had just come from working in the city, and probably had picked up Niall from the daycare center. The little boy stuck closely to her side as if he were afraid of being even a foot away. His thumb was stuck firmly in his mouth as he held her hand tightly. Harry smiled at the sight and bent down to speak with the shy boy.

“Hello, Niall. How’s my little dewdrop been?” The little boy shuffled on his feet and blushed as he pressed his head into his Mommy’s sleeve. Lily, however, prodded him forward and encouraged him to go inside the house.

“He’s so shy, can’t even say his own name. Go on inside, sweetie. I’m right behind you.” The door was closed after the two guests walked inside, and as if an alert had gone off in her mind, Lily immediately widened her eyes at Harry. “Oh, where is he? I’ve been waiting to meet him all day, the cute little thing. I got your photo of him sleeping that you sent me.”

Turning her head, Lily grinned and clasped her hands together under her chin as she took in the sight of Harry’s little boy. Louis was wide eyed and looked up at her unable to move. Here he was, still dressed in boat footie pajamas from his sleep, with an attractive woman who must have been just about his age staring down at him like he was a chihuahua. His entire body must have been burning red in that moment, because he felt himself become hot all over.

“Hi, Louis. My name is Lily, and I’m a friend of your Daddy. And this is my little boy Niall.”

Louis’ eyes averted from the woman’s and landed on those of the man standing beside her. He was just about the same height as her wearing heels, and he was looking all around the room with big blue eyes that seemed afraid of everything. When the two boys finally made eye contact, Niall slipped his thumb in his mouth once more and started sucking frantically. Louis squinted his eyes at him, wondering what the guy was thinking. Louis had never in his life seen a grown adult act so..young. It was unsettling to him and he began to feel more uncomfortable in his position than before.

“I’m going to go finish packing up the food.” Harry whispered to Lily and she smiled. 

“I would love to help you-” 

“I know you want to see Louis. Go on ahead, I’ve got almost everything finished.” Harry gave her a knowing smile and nearly turned around before he put his hand to his head. “I have to change him into some play clothes. I completely forgot, he’s still in his pajamas.”

“I could do it if you’d like.” Lily offered.

“I don’t know..” Harry’s eyes wandered off to Louis who was examining Niall. The little boy had taken a seat on the rug and was playing with his socks. Louis was still, looking like he was afraid to make any sudden movements towards the kid. “Would it be okay if you did? I don’t want him to be scared, or uncomfortable. No offense towards you of course, it’s just that it’s his first day.” 

Lily seemed disappointed at not being able to spend one-on-one time with Louis, but nevertheless she understood where Harry was coming from. “You know, you’re right. Let me finish packing everything instead and you go change him real quick. I can’t wait to get going.”

\---

Louis felt like he was a doll, and Harry was playing dressup with him. Despite his fighting back, his limbs seemed to be getting weaker and all he could do was lightly hit Harry which didn’t do much except get him an upset look from the man. Against everything he wanted, he was dressed in a light blue shirt and overalls with a red train design embroidered on the front pocket. He felt like a Martha Stewart baby, and he didn’t like it at all. In addition, his mind continued to seem to grow fuzzy. It was as if one moment he knew what was happening, and the next he forgot where he was.

When he was carried back into the living room, he was put into even bigger surprise at the sight of new people who had arrived. There was a daddy with two more little boys, a mommy with a little girl, and a daddy with a little girl. Louis quickly learned how to recognize the people who were in the same position as himself due to how they were dressed, but also as to how they were acting. They all seemed strangely comfortable with what was going on, with the exception of Niall, who still seemed nervous. The only other little who seemed reluctant was the little girl here with her Daddy. She sat on the floor next to his legs and seemed to be looking around the room with a strange focused look that Louis hadn’t seen on any of the others.

Louis wanted to try and get a better look at her, but not a second after he was brought in and all the parents seemed to jump up and dash towards him and Harry. They held onto his hands and poked at his cheeks. 

“Hey, hey!” Louis yelled out of fright and he tried to bat away the eager hands. The daddy who had brought his two little boys looked at him with a sort of amusement over his features. 

“Hey, little man. You probably don’t remember me, do you?” Louis furrowed his eyebrows at the remark and continued to attempt to squirm out of Harry’s grip before his arms were finally held behind his back in an effort to prevent him from hitting anymore. “I know this is a scary day for you, bud. But I promise it’ll all get better.”

“Louis, can you say hi to Liam for me?” Harry whispered in his little boy’s ear. When Louis ignored him, Harry bit his lip. Still, he tried to ignore the thought in his mind that was telling him he was doing everything wrong. 

Liam recognized the look on his friend’s face and put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. It always works out great. Some are more difficult at first than others. But by the looks of it, you have a pretty good little boy on your hands. I’ve seen some on their first day who are completely out of control, screaming, punching, kicking. This one is like a little angel.”

Louis stared in disbelief at how the two were talking, right in front of him, like he couldn’t understand a word. 

“Well, I only have Ms Hamilton to thank for that. Woman is a godsend.”

“Oh no, you’re not giving the little boy enough credit. I think he likes it here, don’t you Louis?” Liam smiled at him knowingly and let a small chuckle escape his lips.

Louis grimaced, finally deciding to speak up. He tried hard to focus his eyes on Liam, though it appeared as if there were two of him. His voice seemed to come out weak as well. He just wasn’t feeling right. It seemed as if he had started to feel ill as soon as he had been set down on the rug by Harry. It was starting to worry him.

“I don’t like this, I don’t like any of it.” He squinted hard, he felt like he was being whirled around by Harry. “Not a baby.”

Liam frowned. “Is he okay Harry? He seems a little green.”

Harry nodded his head and began rubbing his little boy’s back. He had been told that there were to be some side effects from the drug and had noticed Louis seemed to be a little dizzy. There was no fear though, Ms Hamilton assured him that the longest the phases would last would be for an hour. Louis wouldn’t be hurt, just a little woozy. 

“You know, side effects. You want some juice before we all head out, sweet boy? You must be a thirsty little boy, huh? Something in your belly will make you feel good. I just didn’t want to force anything into that little tummy of yours too early.” Louis moaned at the feeling that was starting to roll down into his stomach. He couldn’t tell if it was hunger or something else. He wasn’t able to stop himself from burying his face in Harry’s shoulder.

“I think we have our answer.” Harry smiled and excused himself from the group. Liam had packed up Harry’s car and the group would be ready to head out for the park at Lake Genevieve. It was perfect picnic weather today, and Harry thought his little boy would like some outdoor playtime even better than being stuck inside. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to run around too much since the drug was making him a little weaker than he would be normally. He wouldn’t be able to walk steadily.

Harry pulled a sippy cup he already had prepared and handed it to the boy, watching as his hands grasped around it and put it to his lips without a single question. The little boy was probably wanting anything to relieve himself of the dizziness he was feeling. Harry felt bad, but it was all necessary in order for him to have a smoother transition to regressing.

Within five minutes, the group was packed into their cars and on their way to the park. 

\---

Louis had fought going into the carseat, but now Harry was trying to stick him inside a stroller and if there was even an ounce of strength left in his arms, he would fight tooth and nail against it. 

“Come on, don’t you want to have a fun picnic?” Harry had surprised Louis last minute in the car telling him that they would actually be eating outside at the park. To his disappointment, the little boy hadn’t been as enthusiastic about the news as he’d hoped. At least the other littles seemed happy enough about it.

“Not a baby, don’t need a stroller! I want to go home!” Louis was started to get more whiny and upset that he had been before, definitely due to the pain he was feeling. Despite his whimpering, Harry managed to lift him up and strap him into the stroller. It was one of the nicest brands Harry could afford, fit with comfy padding that made it softer. He thought Louis would like it. He strapped the little boy in with the key lock so Louis couldn’t use his hands to unbuckle himself.

“I know you feel pretty bad, baby. But don’t worry, there was some nice medicine in that sippy cup of yours to make you feel a little better. Daddy doesn’t want his little boy to be sick. He wants his little boy to be happy. Can you be happy for Daddy?”

“Not, my dad.” Louis managed to get out. “Don’t need medicine, need to go home. Want to go home.” Harry stood, not knowing exactly what to do before Liam came over with his two boys following quickly behind like ducklings. 

“I don’t know what the matter is, I gave him the baby medicine in his juice like she said I should to make him feel better, but he just seems worse. What am I doing wrong?” He started to bite his nails in panic as Liam surveyed the situation. Of course, to an experienced Daddy it was obvious to him what the issue was.

“I can tell he’s not dizzy anymore, the medicine worked. But what he is, is tired and hungry. Plus he’s still weak from the other dosage. Zayn was exactly like this too when he came home. He just needs to get some food in his tummy and then have a little nap. We can put a towel down for him on the grass and let him rest. It’ll get dark in about an hour, but the kids can still play after because of the streetlamps. Don’t worry.”

“I just feel horrible, I don’t want him to miss out on-” Harry started to speak but stopped when he looked down at Louis again. The boy was sleeping, little mouth open slightly and head tilted to the side. Harry put his hands down as he watched.

“Told you.” Liam said. “Food will still be here when he wakes up. Just relax, okay? It’s all good. Everyone is good.”

Slipping his hand in the under compartment of the stroller, Harry pulled out a spare green paci and slipped it into Louis’ mouth. The boy latched onto it and let out another little moan, but didn’t wake up. 

“Poor thing.” Harry said to himself as the group began to head towards the picnic area. He would have to eat when he woke up.

\---

Louis’ eyes fluttered open as he felt himself grow aware once more of his surroundings. The sky was dark, but lamps lit up the small area he could see was grass and blanket covered. To his side, he could see Harry talking with someone, the same woman who had arrived first at the house earlier that day. He still hadn’t realized he had woken up. 

In front of him, Louis could see two littles passed out on blankets napping. One of them was Niall, and another one was a little girl with pigtails that he hadn’t been introduced to yet. She had a pacifier in her mouth and seemed to be sucking on it even as she slept. 

“My little boy is awake! How are you feeling, sweetie?” Harry pressed a hand to Louis’ forehead as the little boy blinked up at him. He certainly felt better than he had before, and his eyes were able to focus without him getting dizzy. He had wanted to hate Harry for slipping medicine into his drink, but it seemed like whatever it was had helped. Now he was just hungry.

“You must be starving. Let Daddy fix you a plate. The soup is still warm because I put it in the thermos for you. I bet you’ll like it.” Harry ran a hand over Louis’ hair before leaving him to run to the table he’d set up just behind the group. 

Louis waited anxiously for him to get back. He couldn’t figure out the latch on the stroller, so there was no way for him to wiggle out of it. Harry had returned quickly though, so he wouldn’t have had much time to break free even if he had managed to get loose. Besides, there seemed to be a lot of people around.

“Daddy will feed you. Open up.” Harry was crouched down next to Louis with a spoonful of soup ready to be slipped into his mouth.

“No way.” Louis said, giving him a look. 

Harry gave him the same look back. “Baby, it’s perfectly good soup. Why, does my little boy not like his veggies? It’s yummy pumpkin. I thought you would like it because Halloween is coming up soon.” As if on cue, Louis’ tummy growled and Harry laughed. “I know you want it. Come on, don’t fight against it, Louis.”

“I can feed myself.” Louis insisted, but with his mouth open Harry took the opportunity to slip the spoon into his mouth. The boy had to admit, the soup was pretty good. But he still didn’t like being fed like he was helpless. After that spoonful, he closed his lips tight and sunk back further into the stroller. Harry decided it was time to bargain. His boy needed to eat.

“I’ll tell you what, if you eat all your yummy food, Daddy will let you out of the stroller to play.”

Out of the stroller? Louis’ eyes widened. This was the chance he was waiting for. He just needed to wander off slowly without anyone realizing, and he would be a free man. 

He opened his mouth, ready for more. 

“That’s my good little boy.” Harry smiled. He took a piece of bread and dipped it into the soup, bringing it to Louis. “Eat up, little boy.”

After a few more mouthfuls of food, the hurt in Louis’ belly was gone. However, a new problem arose.

“Mr. Harry?” Louis heard a shy voice and looked around wondering where it came from. It was only when Harry turned around did he see the girl sitting on the ground a small distance away looking at the two of them curiously.

“Hi, Penny.” Harry smiled. “Would you like to say Hi to Louis?” 

The girl nodded her head frantically and crawled over to the stroller. Her brown hair was up in pigtails tied with yellow ribbons. Louis eyes her cautiously as she approached him. She was the one who had been napping with Niall a few minutes before.

“Hi, Louis.” She whispered and reached out a hand to touch his face. Louis was about to move back when Harry put a firm hand on his wrist, and shook his head sternly at him, a look that meant to be nice or he would have something else to be upset about later. Louis didn’t want to know what it meant for him if he got in trouble with Harry. He didn’t intend on sticking around long enough to find out either. He supposed he just had to play the hand he was dealt for now.

The girl’s hand was soft and she patted his head gently as if she were afraid he would shatter. 

“Penny likes Louis.” She looked up at Harry with her big green eyes. 

“Penny does? Do you hear that Louis? Penny likes you.” Harry’s heart was melting at the interaction between the two kids. This is what he loved most about the littles, how sweet they were to each other. He hoped Louis would learn to love his new friends.

“Does Louis want to be Penny’s friend?” The girl whispered again, this time pulling her hand away and taking a seat on Harry’s lap. She began to play with the hem of her dress. Harry ran his hand down her hair, smoothing it. She looked up at Louis hopefully and waited for him to respond.

When Louis realized Harry wasn’t going to speak for him, he paused to try and think of something to say. The girl was definitely not in her correct mindset, so Louis didn’t want to do anything to upset her. Still, he felt bad playing into the fantasy that she was likely forced into. Playing along wasn’t doing her any favors. But what else could he do?

“I’ll be your friend.” He said slowly and was responded to with a big smile. She jumped up and pulled her arms around him, smushing her face against his before planting a big kiss on his cheek just as a white light flashed towards them. Penny’s mommy had taken a picture of the interaction. Louis’ face burned red.

“Mommy! Louis is Penny’s friend!” The girl was crawling now and tugging on the woman’s pant leg. 

“Is he now? That’s wonderful, princess.” She chuckled at her little girl who seemed to be bouncing off the ground in happiness now. Louis stayed silent.

“Alright, Louis. Daddy promised to let you go off and play. Let me unbuckle this for you.” Leaning over, he slipped a hand into his pocket to pull out the stroller key. Louis was picked up out of the seat and set on the ground next to Penny who now had a pink pacifier stuck in her mouth. She sucked on it as she took Louis by the shirt and pulled, trying to get him to crawl over to Liam’s two little boys who were sitting a distance away. 

No matter how happy it would make her, Louis refused to crawl. However, when he stood up he found himself wobbling on his legs and collapsed quickly onto the ground. Penny opened her mouth and her pacifier dropped onto the grass.

“Is-Is Louis okay? Louis fell, Mommy! Louis is hurt! Penny saw!” Louis could see the start of tears forming in the little girl’s eyes as her lip began to tremble. 

“No, I’m okay. It’s no big deal.” He said to the girl nervously. “I’m okay, seriously.” However, it seemed that the girl wasn’t able to understand him. The girl’s caretaker bent down and propped Penny against her legs.

“Louis isn’t hurt, Penny. See? No boo-boos.” The girl rubbed a lazy fist at her eyes and looked at Louis, wanting to see if her Mommy was right. Louis gave her an awkward smile, and she smiled back.

“Louis is okay! Penny is happy.” Once again, the boy was pulled into a big hug and the adults all cooed at the cute sight. This only made Penny happier and squeeze tighter.

“Awake for 20 minutes and already making friends. See Louis, you’re such a good boy. Daddy is so proud of you.” Louis looked up from his position on the ground. Harry seemed so high up and he couldn’t help but feel miniscule compared to him. Suddenly he just wanted to hide, though he didn’t know where the feeling came from.

“It’s so nice to see the kids having fun together.” Penny’s Mommy smiled at Harry. “It makes everything so worth it, seeing them happy.”

“I know, Monica. I hope we can do this again soon.”

“Are you kidding? Of course we will! The kids all seem to love Louis. Zayn and Ethan were all over him even when he was sleeping. He’s a big hit. Liam told me the boys already wanted to know when they could have a playdate with him. How adorable!”

Harry nodded his head. “I hope Louis starts to adjust soon. I’m just worried for what happens after the drug wears off. I’d hate to think I’d have to have him strapped down if he tries to escape if he’s scared and confused. I just want him to be happy here. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Monica nodded her head. She knew what Harry felt. She had felt it once before too. But now it was difficult to imagine Penny being the same mischievous, screaming little girl she had once been when she had first been brought to Lake Genevieve. They were like two different people. Now, all Penny wanted was her pacifier and to go to bed with her bunny. She didn’t think about things like escaping. Louis would be the same way soon enough.


	4. Blue and Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This is a bit of a shorter chapter but I really had only two goals for it: have Louis use his diaper for the first time and have him meet Ms Hamilton. I didn't want to overwrite :)
> 
> Also, I want to tell you guys that any ideas you have or anything you want to see just let me know! I'm also more than happy to show scenes with some of the other littles if you're interested. Harry and Louis will remain the main focus of the story, but they aren't the only ones in the town :)
> 
> Let me know what you think. Thanks so much for checking this story out and I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

The second Louis began to feel the pain in his bladder, it seemed to increase by the minute. He was laying awake in the crib Harry had stuck him in once more for the night and had been staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours. Now, he found himself shifting uncomfortably trying to ignore the pain that was becoming sharper. He had to relieve himself.

Louis had a small idea in his mind of what Harry expected of him since he’d been stuck in diapers, but the thought of actually going in them had never crossed his mind until then. He was adamant on getting out of the place. The small details seemed so trivial- it was easy to forget that he needed to do things like use the restroom or shower when he was trapped in a nightmare he was still trying to understand and get himself out of. 

Louis finally couldn’t stand the pain any longer. He had to get out of the crib. 

Tonight, Harry had clipped on some kind of screen like material over the top of the crib to ensure Louis stayed put. The first night hadn’t required it, because Louis was so knocked out that he wouldn’t have tried anything while Harry was sleeping. However, the man knew that while his little boy wasn’t anything close to a challenge for him to overpower, it was better to prevent an accident from happening rather than deal with it. Now, Louis sat up in the plush bed and put his hands on the material, trying to see if he could break the clips loose.

When that didn’t work, he looked instead to the side and pushed his hand through the bars. He had always had tiny hands, so this wasn’t an issue for him. Feeling around the outside top of the crib, he groaned when he realized the clips were on the top of the screen instead of on the side of them. Louis pushed his arms further out and had to bend them in order to get his fingers around the clasps. After 10 minutes of trying, he finally heard the snaps and pulled his arms back through the bars.

The screen was lifted off, and now Louis was faced with the task of climbing out. The crib wasn’t very high, but it was still a good ways off the floor and his strength wasn’t at its strongest. Whatever drug he had been given had obviously continued working to make his limbs weaker. He had to be careful as he pulled himself up into a standing position.  
“Come on” Louis muttered to himself as he attempted to lift his leg around the railing, but the motion only made his bladder hurt worse. He bit his lip to avoid from crying out.

With one leg over, he only needed to get another. This one was easier, and soon both legs were over the railing and all he had to do was step down-

That, of course, didn’t work. His legs already felt like pudding and one more move caused him to fall to the floor. He grabbed onto his head, having hit it on the way down. 

With no more good usage of his legs available, he sucked in his breath and began crawling towards the door. He could see a dim strip of light underneath the door. Louis wasn’t sure where exactly he would go, but he knew he had to go somewhere. Leave the house somehow and make as much progress as he could while it was still dark and people weren’t around. He could head for the woods instead of following the road. Make his way to the other side of them and find somewhere he could go to get help. There was no way anyone in the vicinity of Harry’s house could help him. They would only bring him straight back to Harry.

He was so close, eyes keeping steady on the bottom of the door when his stomach dropped as the sight of two feet appearing at the door in the hallway. His eyes widened and he looked up. The door opened, and there stood a tired looking Harry clad in grey sweatpants and hair tied up in a bun. The man looked down and seemed startled at the sight of Louis out of his crib.

“Sweetie pie, what are you doing up and out of bed?” Harry bent down to examine the frozen Louis who had pulled himself up into a kneeling position. “Are you okay? I heard a bump. Did my baby fall?”

Harry pulled Louis into his arms, pulling the boy’s hands together when Louis tried to slap him away. It was no use, he was too weak. All of the strength that had been built up from sitting in the crib had been wasted away when he climbed out.

“Oh baby, come on now. Daddy knows you’re not very strong right now. You should know that too. The best thing you can do is just let Daddy hold you nice and tight.” Harry slowly began to rock the boy back and forth, unknowingly putting even more pressure on his bladder. The pain was at an all time high now, and when Harry’s elbow knocked into his stomach, Louis cried out in pain, no longer able to hold it back.

Harry immediately pulled his arm back and moved Louis so he could better see his face. “What’s wrong sweet boy? Do you hurt from falling? Tell Daddy where it hurts.” The look of panic on Harry’s face could have made anyone afraid, but Louis didn’t look up at him. Instead, he started to cry. This man was going to force him to use the diaper, he knew it. He was scared and helpless. He never felt so much like a baby before than in that moment.

Soon he was sobbing, and in a state of panic he began trying to thrash away from Harry. Louis forced himself off of the man’s lap and began desperately crawling towards the door. 

“Leave me alone!” He cried out, but didn’t make any progress before he was quickly stopped by the bigger man. Any trace of tiredness was gone from his face now. His boy needed him.

“Hey, hey.” Harry held Louis by the shoulders and whispered to him. “What’s going on? What happened to my good boy, huh? What has Louis so sad?”

Louis shook his head, face now covered in tears from the frenzy he worked himself up into. 

“Don’t cry, my love. Shhh. Come on.” Harry pulled Louis’ face towards his own and kissed his cheeks before bringing him into his chest. “Come on, Daddy loves you. Daddy doesn’t want to see you so sad. Daddy wants his Louis happy.”

“Need to go.” Louis cried, his words barely audible. Still, Harry heard him.

“You need to go? Where does Louis need to go?” 

“I need to go! Hurts!” Louis started crying harder, and Harry finally understood.

He brought Louis away from his chest so the two could look each other in the eye.

“Does Louis need to go potty?”

The words startled the boy into silence. All at once, his tears stopped flowing and his lip stopped quivering. He couldn’t have Harry knowing he needed to go to the bathroom. He needed him to put him back into the crib and leave. He couldn’t force him to go in the diaper. He would rather die first. If he was put back into the crib, maybe he could remove the padding and aim out of the bars of the crib. Louis wanted to hit himself in the face. Why didn’t he think of that? 

Of course he wasn’t strong enough to make the trek outside the crib. And what made him think he could ever be able to make his way across the woods all alone in this state? He needed to wait until he was stronger. He felt like an idiot. He had only put himself in an even worse position now.

“No.” He said. He remained still in Harry’s arms and the man looked down at him curiously.

“I think my baby is lying to me. I think he needs to go potty, but he’s scared to use his diaper.”

“No, I don’t! I just, I just want to go back into bed. Please?” Louis tried to put on his best act but Harry wasn’t a fool. He knew the game Louis was trying to play. Ethan was like this when Liam had first brought him home. He had heard one too many stories of babies trying to get out of using their diaper for the first time. It was a big step and most were terrified their first time. 

Harry was just glad he was awake now and would be able to help Louis through it. 

“Daddy won’t be mad if Louis uses his diaper, because that’s what Louis is supposed to do. So now Daddy wants his little boy to let go. Then Daddy will clean him up and put him back to bed.” Harry pulled the boy back in towards his chest and rubbed his back slowly trying his best to relax him. “Just let go. Daddy has you.”

“No. I won’t.” Louis’ voice was muffled into his shoulder but he could still make out the words. Harry closed his eyes and wished things could be easier.

“I didn’t want to have to do it this way, Louis.” He said. “It would be a much nicer experience for you to go on your own, but Daddy knows if little boys don’t go potty when they have to they can get sick. Louis doesn’t want to get sick, does he?”

With the question, Harry picked up his boy and brought him up to the changing table where his limbs were calmly strapped down. The boy barely put up any kind of struggle, as he couldn’t. Harry felt bad that he would have to force Louis to go, but he knew it was for the best. Louis would end up staying up all night focusing on controlling his bladder that he would get no rest. Come morning, he would not only have to go potty, but he would also be tired and cranky and that would spell disaster. It was better to take care of business here and now. 

“What are you going to do to me?” Louis voice was softer now than it was before and fear was evident in his has as he looked up helplessly at Harry. The man only smiled as he rubbed Louis’ tummy. The boy closed his eyes in pain at the contact.

“This will be quick if Louis cooperates. Just relax, baby.” Then the pressure began.

Harry’s hands were large and practically covered the full expanse of Louis’ bladder area. He pressed down lightly at first, but ever so slightly pushed down harder. The boy started frantically moving his head around, desperate for any means of escape.

“No! Please don’t do this! It hurts too much! Harry!” Louis started to cry again. The pain was overwhelming and he couldn’t do anything about it. The tears leaked down the sides of his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying his hardest to ignore the feeling.

“Come on, Louis. Daddy doesn’t want to hurt you, but this is the only way to get you to go now so you can get a good night’s sleep. Daddy wants you to be comfortable. Don’t make it harder for yourself.”

“Not a baby! Don’t use diapers!” Louis managed to squeak out, but he was starting to feel out of breath from his struggle. 

Harry sighed. “You are a baby, and you do use diapers. Come on, sweetie. Go for Daddy.”

“I don’t- I can’t-” Louis put up his last minute of struggle before he could no longer resist. He froze under Harry’s touch as he felt himself let go.

At the feel of his giving up, Harry pulled his hands back from Louis. He was just as eager to stop putting Louis through pain as Louis was eager to stop hurting. The man smiled down at the boy and let out a deep breath. All Louis could do was stare at the wall in disbelief of what he had just done. He made no noises.

“Daddy is so proud of you, Louis! What a good boy! Daddy’s good boy.” Harry immediately began to change Louis, taking off the diaper first. Louis barely reacted to the coldness of the wipe or the feel of the powder being sprinkled on him. He didn’t protest when a new diaper was wrapped around his bottom either. 

When he was unstrapped from the table he only remained limp, not even looking up at Harry. The man pulled him up into his arms and kissed the side of his face, walking around the room for a few minutes singing softly into his ear. He had never felt worse than then.

“I’m so sorry I put you through that, baby. I never want you to hurt, ever. But I know you would’ve hurt more if you didn’t let go. Daddy is sorry. There are some things that little boys won’t understand, and I think this is one of them.”

Louis listened but didn’t say anything. He was thoroughly exhausted from the franticness of it all, and now he just wanted to sleep. At least this Harry could give to him.

He was set back down delicately into the crib. The screen was set back into place. Harry would figure out tomorrow how to ensure he wouldn’t get out of it again. He knew that Louis wouldn’t be getting out again.

The mobile was clicked on and in the new darkness of the room he decided to put the lights on it. Blue and green orbs spun around the room and Louis watched the lazily as he started to drift off.

“Goodnight, love.”

\---

Louis was still fragile from the events the night before. He had barely said a word during his breakfast feeding and hadn’t even protested when Harry slipped his paci into his mouth during his morning playtime. The man was growing more concerned about his little boy by the second and decided the only thing he could do to help would be calling Ms Hamilton. 

She had listened earnestly to Harry’s worries over the phone and promised to be over at his house in just an hour. The woman knew the fears of a new parent would often run rampant and didn’t want Harry to panic any longer than he already had. She had just the idea of how to snap Louis out of the daze he had pulled himself into. She knew how to get into the mind and play on the unconscious mind of a little.

When Ms Hamilton entered the quiet home, she was led into the living room only to see a small framed boy sitting in the rug. Harry was busy biting his nails standing behind her rocking his weight back and forth on his feet. He had never seen such a lost look on anyone's face before and was terrified of what it meant.

“Harry, the first thing we have to do as parents is set an example of how our little ones should feel. If you act nervous, you’re only telling little Louis that he should be nervous as well. How did you treat Louis last night after his changing?”

“Well, I held him and I sang to him a little bit. I told him I was sorry for what I had to do.” Harry took a seat on the couch as Alivia set herself down next to the boy.

“That was your first mistake.”

“What was?”

“Apologizing. Apologizing to Louis for making him go potty first tells him that going potty in his diaper is something he should be sorry for. It also makes the situation even more uncomfortable for him. Instead of being soft with him, you should have tried to interact with him more. Maybe tickle him, something like that. It’s good that you sang to him. Remember, positive interactions for positive behavior.”

“Oh God, what have I done? What if he’s never the same? I don’t know if I can deal with him moping around, it breaks my heart too much.”

Alivia laughed. “Don’t worry, I know just the thing to help him snap back to normal. It’s a good thing you called me. All new parents go through something like this, no matter how much they’re warned against it. Think of it as a christening to your own fatherhood. You only have to remind them of their place.”

The woman leaned forward towards a large bin of Duplo blocks. She was now positioned in front of Louis. She took a block in one hand and the little boy’s wrist in another.

“Hello, Louis. My name is Ms Alivia.” She spoke gently. “You’re a cute little thing, aren’t you?”

Slowly, she placed the block in his hand and then placed another block in his other. 

“I know you’re feeling pretty bad, but there’s no reason for that. You should be happy that you have such a nice Daddy. And look at all these cool toys!” Her voice shifted, becoming more shrill and happy than it had been before. This caught Louis’ attention. He lifted his head to look at her.  
“Do you like your Duplo blocks? Let’s play with them.” His hands in hers, she pulled them together so he clicked the blocks together.

“You’re so good at this!” 

Louis looked curiously at the lady and wondered why she was getting so excited about some dumb legos. He was beginning to feel his mind drift back to where it should be. 

“How about we build a big tower. How fun would that be?” Ms Hamilton laughed and began to work on sticking some blocks together by herself. She didn’t try to get Louis to join in, instead letting him watch her instead.

“I love these things. They’re so much fun to play with.” She continued speaking to him as the minutes went by. Harry sat behind and watched the two, wondering what would happen next. He was waiting for Louis to do something, anything.

He didn’t know what it was, but for some reason he found himself getting the urge to reach over for another block. That’s how he started coming back to reality.

\---

“How are you doing this?” Harry was shocked as he watched Louis build to himself mindlessly. He wasn’t making anything in particular, but he was focused on putting each block together. 

Ms Hamilton smiled. “If you don’t engage with them, they won’t want to engage at all. Feeding him isn’t going to do anything alone. You need to get down to their level. When he sees you put these blocks together, it’s sending a message that it’s something good to do. All he needs is to be pushed in the right direction. Then everything else will begin to come into place. Make everything you do happy. Babies like feeling happy. In the beginning, that’s all they need to feel.”

“I’m still here you know. I can hear what you’re saying about me.” Louis spoke for the first time Ms Hamilton had been there, and the most words he had uttered all day.

“I know, sweet tart. And there isn’t anything I have to say to your Daddy, that you don’t deserve to hear as well. You’re going through these changes right alongside him. You’re a team, you know.”

Louis stopped building. “But I’m not a baby. I don’t understand any of this, or why it’s happening to me. I just want to go home. People are missing me. I know they are.”

Alivia smiled. “You seem pretty at peace playing here. Are you sure you aren’t just confused?” Louis was shocked. She was the first one who didn’t seem to speak to him in a baby voice like he was a mindless child. As if for the first time, he looked down and realized he had built an entire set of Duplo blocks. He was sitting with his feet together on the floor and he hadn’t even noticed.

“I’m telling you, things will begin to become clearer as time passes. All you have to do is let it.”


	5. The Toy Boat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So today we get angry escaping Louis, sensitive little Louis, and a touch of temper tantrum Louis which is more than I ever thought I could get into one chapter. The story is definitely moving along (though really really really far from over) and soon Louis won't need to be drugged in order to be compliant with Harry. I really want to work up their relationship so I can put all the good stuff in later on.
> 
> As always, be sure to tell me what you think! I love reading all of your comments, they're so sweet :) Thanks so much for reading. I'm glad people are enjoying this as much as I am! 
> 
> For any of you who are celebrating Christmas- Merry Christmas! And a very happy birthday to Louis!   
> Happy reading :)

The feeling came back strong and without warning. There was no gradual build up. Louis could feel his limbs become stronger and less fuzzy from the drug he had been given. His mind felt clearer, his senses more sharp, and he finally felt like there was a possibility he might have been able to do something. He wouldn’t be helpless against Harry anymore, and this would be the perfect time to strike back against him. Louis knew that he would have to catch the man off guard and avoid him from realizing he was practically back at full capacity.

If Harry knew that the drug was worn out of his system, there was a good chance he would have forced something more down his throat in order to subdue him. Louis couldn’t risk spending anymore time in this place. It would be incredibly difficult, but he would have to try his best to remain calm.

That’s why when Harry came and picked Louis up, he didn’t fight back. He needed to think through a plan first.

“It’s about time my little boy got his first bath. Daddy bought some cool bath toys for his Louis to play with while Daddy gets him nice and clean. Won’t that be fun?”

Louis was brought into the bathroom and into the sights of an already full bubble bath. He could make out the outline of a few colorful toys in the water as well as a set of bath crayons on the edge of the tub. He could feel his heart begin to beat faster as the prospect of being undressed and bathed by a stranger was made clear to him. He didn’t want fingers rubbing shampoo in his hair and he didn’t want to be touched.

“No, I’m okay.” Louis said, still in Harry’s arms and looking down at the tub. It seemed as though Harry was expecting a bit of a mess, as the space before the tub was lined with an assortment of bath towels. 

“Don’t be shy, sweetie. Daddy knows you want to be clean. Daddy knows you’re very nervous because all of this is new, but we can go through it nice and fast. Daddy doesn’t want his Louis to be unhappy.” He set his boy on the tile floor. 

Louis froze. He hadn’t been set on his feet in a while and he couldn’t help but feel wobbly. Out of necessity, he grabbed Harry’s arm to balance himself. For a second his eyesight went black before his sight slowly faded back into him. It wasn’t a good feeling. The boy could feel himself swaying slightly as he recalled his own balance.

Harry held onto his shoulders to help him. “Woah there, is my baby okay? You haven’t been on those little feet in a while haven’t you? It’s okay, Daddy won’t let you fall.”

Louis looked up slowly at the man who continued to speak to him as if he were nothing more than a toddler. “I’m completely fine. I know how to stand on my own two legs. I’m not helpless.”

“It’s okay to need help sometimes. Even Daddy needs help on occasion.” Harry said softly, taking the hem of Louis’ shirt and lifting it slowly, as if trying not to let Louis notice. But any effort of being discreet failed when Louis jumped back, nearly knocking his head into the towel rack. “Woah, woah! Be careful, little one. You don’t want to get hurt now.” Harry reached forward towards Louis’ head, wanting to make sure he was okay, but Louis moved away from his touch again.

“I’m not letting you bathe me.” It seemed as though all of his thoughts seconds before about staying calm were suddenly as meaningful of dirt. He would be damned if he let this man touch him like nothing was wrong.

“Daddy knows you’re still a little scared, but you’ll feel much better after a warm bath. Just let me take care of you, huh? Daddy only wants to help.”

“I’m not scared of you, so don’t think for a second that I am.” Louis voice lowered. “I just want you to know that this game you’re playing isn’t going to go on for much longer. Once I get out of this place, you and all your other sick friends are going to go away for a very long time. Once the world hears about what you people do, you’ll never be able to have a normal life ever again.”

Harry looked at Louis, surprised at the words coming out of his little boy. Louis hadn’t spoken so seriously even once since he had arrived home. There was definitely something different about the boy. He was more confident, and he seemed much more sure of himself than he had ever been before.

What could have changed in so little time?

Harry wanted to slap himself in the face. Of course. The medicine was since due to wear off and he’d done nothing to give Louis another dose. The reality of the situation in front of him almost made him nervous. It was true he was bigger and stronger than the boy, but that hadn’t stopped him from smashing a lamp in his face and making a run for it out the door. Harry had a crafty boy on his hands, and there was no telling what a pump of adrenaline could do for him. This time, he didn’t have Liam waiting outside if anything went wrong.

“Louis” Harry took a breath. “You’re right. Maybe now isn’t a good time for a bath. Maybe you’d like a little snack instead? Daddy can fix you some yummy pretzels and juice. How does that sound?” The man walked around Louis, not bothering to even pick him up again to place him on his hip. He wasn’t certain he wouldn’t get attacked by the little boy.

“You just gave me food..” Louis’ voice lowered, but eyes widened as he realized what Harry was getting at. It became plainly obvious that the charade was up. Harry knew the drug had worn off and now he was trying to get more drug into his system to return him to the helpless state of before. Louis knew it was partly his fault for being so bold about getting in the tub. Drugged up Louis would put up a fight, but it would be futile and wouldn’t involve nearly as much talking as he’d served up to his captor.

He was no longer that Louis. Now, he was a more focused one with a clear mind set on getting the hell out of wherever he was. It now occurred to him that his escape would be happening a bit sooner than he had anticipated.

It only took a stroke of a second for Louis to charge towards Harry, who swiftly got out of the way and into the hallway just in time. The bigger man ran for the kitchen and the new bottle of medicine that had been left on the counter since Ms Hamilton had visited. It was special, a new kind that wouldn’t leave Louis so sick. After expressing his concerns about it to Alivia, she had told him there was another kind called Charox that would work on a more emotional level than physical like the one before, but wouldn’t result in a sick baby. It was less commonly used by the people in the community, as people were generally more enthusiastic at first to have a little one who relied on them more for movement. 

The feeling of being needed in a way so simple as moving around was something that put excitement into any parent. Most people also didn’t want to use Charox because they preferred working towards getting their little one to accept the life instead of having them dosed into it. Still, Harry didn’t see the harm in it, especially since now was an emergency. This last dosage of medicine was just what he needed to get Louis to that point where he wasn’t feeling the need to escape every second.

Still, Harry insisted that he wanted whatever would make his Louis feel less sick than before.

It was supposed to be mixed in with juice so the baby would drink it easier, but unfortunately he wouldn’t have the pleasure of fixing Louis a sippy cup now. Somehow, he would have to get enough down his little boy’s throat. Harry eyed a spare water bottle that was sitting on the counter. He had forgotten to put it away when he was unloading the dishwasher. Maybe this could work..

Harry was now seemingly cornered by Louis who was now clutching a plate in his right hand. There was something about that boy and hitting people over the head with things.

“Louis William, Daddy doesn’t want to put you in the bad boy corner. But if you do something silly, he’ll be forced to.”

“You’re not going to get your way this time. I’m going to get out of here, and you can’t stop me. By the time you wake up from what I’m going to do to you, I’ll be long gone and not you or any of your friends will be able to catch up to me in time.”

Harry let out a sigh. “You’re right, baby. Daddy’s the one who has been silly. He can’t keep his little boy from going out into the world. If you really want to leave, you can go. Just make sure you bring some things with you before you head out. It’s a long way to the nearest city and Daddy wouldn’t want you to be caught outside without any provisions. Go on baby, you win.”

Louis was slightly thrown off guard at the sight of Harry giving up so easily. Any other time he would have been suspicious, but he was so energized that the idea of an easy victory was more than appealing. Louis shot the man a glare before turning his back. Bringing some food with him was a good idea. He wouldn’t be doing it for Harry though. He would be doing it for himself.

Louis eyed a water bottle that had been left on the counter from earlier and brought it over to the sink, filling it with water. Harry cringed at the thought of his little boy drinking unfiltered water from the tap, but said nothing as the bottle filled. 

Louis leaned up against the sink after enough water had been poured in and smirked at Harry.

“You’re so screwed, you know that? You’re all so screwed.” Louis brought the bottle up to his lips and took a drink. Harry only looked onward at the boy. “Once I knock you out, I’m going to get myself some real clothes out of your closet so I don’t look like a basket case when I find help.”

“You do whatever you need to Louis, Daddy wants to support you.” Harry managed to get out. He was still in the corner of the kitchen and hadn’t moved an inch.

“And another thing, you’re not my Dad. So won’t you quit saying that? It’s getting a bit pathetic, you know. Not to mention disturbing. You’re so lonely, that you need to get off on abducting some guy and getting him to call you Daddy? Are you that twisted in the head? And I thought I knew some guys with issues, but you really do take the cake.” Another long chug of water. Louis didn’t know that he had been so parched. 

His mouth twisted at the bottle and put it back down on the counter. “I hate tap water. Always tastes weird.”

Louis moved towards the cabinets to fish out some food. He’d barely seen what Harry kept in the cupboards, but there had to be something he could take with him. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Harry begin to move forward. The boy spun around, dish still in hand. 

“Maybe I should just hit you now. It’s not doing anything to keep you still conscious. I can get out of here faster that way.”

“Do whatever you feel you must, little one.” Harry murmured. He had a strange smile on his face now as he observed Louis holding the dish up in his hand. Louis could barely notice it, but his lip was poking out in a way it hadn’t before. 

Louis put the dish down on the counter, then picked it up, then put it back down again. After a minute of standing watching Harry, he could begin to feel a weird sensation in his mind. 

“What’s going on?” He whined, grabbing onto the counter and bending down, pressing his head against the bottom cabinet. Everything was beginning to look differently to him, yet how exactly he wasn’t sure. Standing back up, he put his attention back on the cupboard he had just opened. There were a bunch of cereal boxes, but nothing that he felt he wanted to eat. Rice Chex?

He looked at the boxes confused. Since when did it matter what he had to eat to get out of here? A second ago food seemed the least of his worries. He couldn’t help himself, but he turned around and looked at Harry curiously.

“You don’t have any good stuff. I want something good to take with me.”

Harry smiled. “Daddy isn’t going to buy his Louis lots of sugary snacks, because they aren’t good for his little tummy.”

Louis swayed standing up. Suddenly he realized what he was craving, sugar. But how did Harry know that before he did?

Plus- Harry didn’t want him to eat good snacks? But he wanted to eat them. But why was he caring so much suddenly about what Harry thought? Louis closed the cupboard and turned back around on his heels. He pulled himself up onto the counter so he was sitting facing Harry and the rest of the kitchen. 

“Why are you smiling like that? What’s going on?” Louis questioned, looking around and feeling more dazed than he had been only a few minutes before. “I don’t like this.” It was as if he could see the world around him but didn’t know what to do with it.

Harry moved towards him, but this time Louis didn’t advance. He just sat there and stared at the man almost hazily. “Stop, don’t come any closer. I have this dish right here.” Louis had the dish back in his hands and he turned it over observing the back of it. There was an intricate green design that his head was having trouble following. Why was he getting so distracted over nothing?

Louis saw Harry walking closer and moved to strike him, but slowly put the dish down. Something in his mind was telling him to hit him now, before he lost the chance but another part was telling him that would be bad. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, because that would be mean.

“Louis, it’s okay. Everything is okay.” Harry lifted Louis off the counter and onto the floor while the boy desperately tried to fight against his instincts to let himself be placed. 

“What did you do to me?” Louis’ voice wobbled.

“Just some nice medicine to help you feel good again.”

“But how did you-?” Louis bit his tongue when he felt tears threaten to fall out over his eyes. He didn’t cry, never cried. Something was horribly wrong. This wasn’t the effect the drug he’d been given before had on him. It was worse, like he wasn’t able to control how he was feeling anymore.

“I put a little bit in the bottom of water bottle you drank from before you filled it up.” Harry smiled. “It doesn’t matter though, because now my little boy is back and we can go take your bath now. Daddy’s not mad at you, darling.”

“But I need to get out of here.” Louis’ voice cracked and he was picked up again by Harry and settled on his hip. Louis clutched onto his shoulder, afraid of falling for some reason. 

The man carried the boy back into the bathroom and began the process again, carefully taking off his clothes and diaper so he was standing bare in front of him. Louis didn’t fight back, only stared at the wall in a daze. He knew he shouldn’t be letting this happen, but he didn’t know why. He just wanted to go back to sleep soon. The excitement of 20 minutes earlier had tired him.

“In we go.” Harry murmured as he set down Louis in the warm water, the bubbles still floating on the surface. 

“I don’t like this feeling.” Louis looked down towards his tummy, avoiding eye contact with Harry. The man sighed and first grabbed the blue bath cloth and lathered it with bath wash. 

“The medicine is going to help you understand what a little boy you actually are, Louis. You’re very confused and it’s not good to try and hurt Daddy when all Daddy wants to do is help. I hope this helps you begin to understand why you need Daddy’s help.”

“But you’re not my Daddy. My Daddy lives far away.” Louis whispered, cupping some bubbles in his hand and staring at them as Harry began to wash his left arm. The mention of his biological father had Harry stuck at a moment at what to say next.

“Louis, Darling, as long as you’re in my care, I’m going to be your Daddy. If I wasn’t your Daddy, then why would I be giving you a bath right now, huh?”

Louis squinted his eyes. That was true. Why would some stranger be taking care of him if they didn’t have to? Maybe this man really was somebody to him.

No! That’s wrong! He’s a bad man and he’s making you stay here even though you don’t want to. Don’t listen to him he’s only trying to make you more confused.

Harry moved on to his other arm, and then his back. 

“Louis, why don’t you play with some of your bath toys? That would be fun wouldn’t it?” There were a few objects floating around the tub that Louis had been eyeing but wasn’t sure what to do with. Still, on the edge of the bath there were a few bath crayons. Harry spotted the boy looking at them and smiled. “Do you want your crayons?”

Harry took a green crayon and leaned over the tub, writing L-O-U-I-S in large letters on the wall.

“You see? I wrote your name. You can have a lot of fun with these don’t you think?”

Slowly, Louis picked up a red crayon and wrote his name a little smaller under Harry’s work.

“Like that?” He murmured.

“Yes, exactly like that. You’re very good at this!”

Louis’ stomach twisted when he realized that he was pleased with the praise he was receiving. Doing the only thing he could do, he dropped the crayon into the water and looked around for something else to focus on for the remainder of the bath. Each time he felt the bath cloth go over him he tensed up.

“Alright Louis, now Daddy just needs to wash your special parts.” Harry moved towards him slowly, trying to prevent an outburst from happening. Of course, that was impossible.

Charox was different from the physical preventative medicine as it didn’t halt the strength the little one had. Louis could still kick and hit with his regular full force. However, what the Charox did do was tap into the mind of the person and put their emotions right up in front of them. This was why little ones taking Charox wouldn’t try to attack their parent. The medicine made them believe it was wrong, confusing them about what was going on. Therefore, without being able to kick or hit people the only thing they were left to do was cry and scream. Essentially, their emotions were all over the place without them knowing why.

“No!” Louis screamed just as the cloth touched him and he scrambled as far as he could go back in the tub. His lip trembled as he looked at Harry, eyes glistening like he was about to cry.

“Sweetie, Daddy isn’t going to hurt you. He just wants to make sure you’re clean.” Harry tried to reason with the boy, but there was no reasoning with a little one on Charox.

“No! I don’t like it! I don’t want to be here!” Louis started crying fully now, his arms splashing around in the water trying to find anyway to get out his anger. If he hadn’t been on the medicine, surely he would have jumped on Harry by then to try and make his escape.

With no other ideas, Harry eyed a toy boat that was floating around in the bubbles by the faucet. It was a nice bath toy, designer. Harry had no idea that there were such things as designed toys for children but when he had found out he splurged so much on little things for Louis. He wanted him to have the best of everything.

“Louis, do you like boats sweet boy?” Harry picked up the boat and held it up in front of Louis’ face. “Have you ever been on a boat?”

Louis’ eyes attached to the boat as he shook his head no in response to the question.

“Would you like to go on a boat someday? Daddy’s friend has a boat, and we love going out on the lake. Is that something Louis would like to do?”

Louis squinted as he lifted his hands from splashing the water and reached for the toy. Harry allowed the boy to take it and watched as he examined it in his hands. The man could tell he was exhausted and knew he’d be sure to put him down for a nap after he finished his bathtime.

“Hmm? What does my baby think?” Harry whispered, still prodding for a response. He ran his hand down Louis’ wet hair and then to his back, reveling in how soft his little boy’s skin was. He would be sure to shower his little one in kisses before bedtime. He wanted Louis to know how special he thought he was.

“Maybe, yes?” Louis said foggily. Harry smiled.

“I’ll arrange for us to go out on it, just for you. Daddy wants you to be happy.”

Harry took this golden opportunity to quickly finish up the washing. Louis hardly noticed he was being cleaned again as he was in such a trance at the sight of the toy boat. Harry didn’t know why the boy became so fixated on it, but he was glad. Anything that would take his mind off of being scared for a few minutes was good news to him.

The bath was finished up in a few minutes after Harry carefully washed his hair. Louis had sputtered when a bit got into his mouth, leaving Harry smiling at the innocence he was witnessing in a little one who a short while before was threatening to run away.

The drain was unplugged and Louis was wrapped in the fluffiest town Harry had, a purple one. His hair and body were dried and he was carried back into his room and set down once more on the changing table. 

“You’re going to have to use your diaper again soon to do your other special business you know.” Harry murmured. “Daddy doesn’t want you to have a tummy ache. You know that’s what I’m here for right, to help my little boy?”

Louis watched anxiously as the diaper was strapped onto him, but made no moves and didn’t cry out. Perhaps in his current state of mind he even thought it was a little soothing, but he would never admit it to anyone.

“Don’t have to go. Don’t want to.” Louis said in a low voice as he looked up at Harry from under his eyelashes. He was set on his bottom on the table now, dressed in a blue onesie and warm socks.

“You’ll have to soon, and I don’t want my little boy to hurt himself, do you understand? Now I’m going to put you down for a quick nap because I can tell you’re a very sleepy boy.”

Louis looked over to the crib, the dreaded thing he had fallen from and suddenly wanted to be nowhere near it. “I don’t like it!” He whined, but Harry ignored his pleas and he was set inside it anyways. The boy laid on his back struggling to look up at Harry, as his eyes were starting to flutter. The pillow was so soft and so was the blanket Harry was tucking over him. He didn’t understand why he wasn’t putting up a better fight but he didn’t feel like thinking about it. He was too tired at this point. Too confused.

“Have a good nap, sugar. Daddy will come and get you in an hour or so.”

The door was closed and Louis was already asleep with those blue and green lights again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just noticed a lot of my chapters end with Louis going to sleep, so I'm going to try and change that up a bit. I have a few ideas lined up which will hopefully be good to switch it up and will be super fun to write :)
> 
> Don't forget to comment anything you'd like to see! Any interactions, ideas, I'd love to incorporate them :)


	6. A Park Playdate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again! I hope everyone who celebrated this month had happy holidays. I got sick on Christmas Eve which wasn't fun but I still had a wonderful time :) This is also going to be the last chapter I post this year, so you'll have to wait until next year for more! (I have to use this joke every New Years I'm sorry don't throw rocks)
> 
> This chapter will introduce you more to three special littles in Lake Genevieve. Louis is still drugged out on the Charox, but expect it to wear off next chapter. As always comments are always appreciated as I love hearing feedback! I also love receiving ideas on what to write next so any requests I'll always be glad to try and find a way to work in. I really appreciate all of you who take the time to leave feedback on each chapter, it makes writing this so much more worth it. Happy reading and I hope you all enjoy!  
> -zoe

Harry was pleased to get the phone call from Liam inviting him and his little boy for an afternoon playing at the park. Louis hadn’t been able to spend too much time with Liam’s boys at the welcoming picnic, but it was about time. Liam was his best friend and their boys would be growing up around each other, so he wanted Louis to become comfortable around them. Of course, Liam’s boys were excellently behaved most of the time, so they’d also be a good influence on Louis.

“Also, I invited Anthony. He told me he was looking for more chances to get Celeste socialized so I figured it would be nice for them to tag along as well.”

Harry bit his tongue, but said nothing. 

“Sounds great. We’ll meet you there soon.”

The phone was hung up and Harry stared at the wall, planning out his next move. It would be great to have Louis spend some time with Zayn and Ethan, but Celeste he wasn’t so sure about. Next to Louis, she was the newest little in Lake Genevieve and had become known for her sneaky ways and her outbursts. It was sheer luck that she hadn’t started trouble at the picnic.

Harry knew his little boy was smart, and he knew Celeste was smart. He didn’t know if both of them spending more time together would be the best of ideas. Still, he didn’t feel right calling back and cancelling. Anthony was a good guy and was just like Harry, in the sense that he wanted his little to adjust. 

“Louis, sweetheart. Some of your friends just invited you to go to the park to play. Would you like that?” Louis had been settled on the living room rug for half an hour mindlessly watching Disney Junior having nothing else to do. He didn’t particularly not want to watch the tv either- he seemed content enough just to watch the colorful images move across the screen. The past few days had been fuzzy for him, but only a few moments had caused him to really lash out at Harry with the exceptions of a few temper tantrums. Using his diaper to go number two for the first time was one of those moments.

→

_He didn’t realized what he had done until he was finished. Louis supposed he had been too caught up daydreaming about home to pay attention to what he needed to do. Now the feeling was horrible and uncomfortable and the redness on his cheeks was too much. Harry was in the kitchen fixing lunch, so he hadn’t immediately caught on to the little boy in distress. Louis was alone which gave him the option of figuring out what to do. At the time, hiding seemed like a pretty good option. A Louis who hadn’t taken Charox would have certainly made his first move towards the restroom to lock himself inside and clean himself up before Harry would have been any wiser, but this Louis’ mind was in pieces._

_Louis scampered on to his feet and looked around desperately for somewhere he could go. The living room had two openings on either side of it, one going into the kitchen and the other going into the nice dining room. That room Harry hardly ever used besides for holidays and inviting people over for dinner. Otherwise him and his little boy would eat their meals at the regular table in the kitchen._

_Louis ran into the dining area, making sure not to walk straight in front of the opening that connected it with the kitchen. The table was big enough to hide under with a large gray tablecloth covering it. The boy was just about to make a move for it when his eye caught on to something else. Harry had inherited a large china cupboard from his grandmother. It was placed next to the window and displayed all her fine china, however, at the bottom of the cupboard was a large hideaway that Harry didn’t use for storage apart from some old blankets._

_Louis opened the bottom and bit his lip at the idea of being trapped in such a dark place, but decided it was a good hiding place and slipped himself inside it. His body was just small enough to fit comfortably inside. The door clicked shut._

_“Louis, lunch is ready. I made us some special BLT sandwiches. I know how much you like those.” Harry finished toasting the last piece of bread and turned off the stove where he had a few pieces of bacon cooking in a pot. In addition to the sandwiches, he’d fixed the two of them some homemade lemonade._

_Harry frowned when he didn’t receive any response from his boy. Louis had grown accustom to the medicine in his system and by now would have been running into get his food. Harry knew he was hungry which was why he wanted to make a nice filling meal instead of something he could microwave quickly. Those microwave meals weren’t good enough for his little boy anyways, and the only reason he kept them in the house was for when he was too sick to cook something._

_The two plates and glasses ready on the table, Harry walked into the living room expecting to find a little Louis still sitting on the floor but his heart stopped when he realized the room was empty._

_“Louis?” Harry moved quickly to check behind the couch, but the boy wasn’t there._

_From inside the cupboard, Louis could hear Harry’s search for him begin and he couldn’t help himself from starting to cry. He hated the situation he was in and couldn’t think clearly enough to do something about it. He hated what had happened to him._

_Harry was frantic now and he ran down the hallway checking every room then upstairs, even though the baby gate had been put in place. He looked in the bathrooms and outside in the yard, even though he would’ve heard the alarm go off if Louis had somehow managed to open the locks and wander out. Finding himself back in the living room with his hands nearly pulling out his own hair, he remembered the dining area. His first move was to look under the table. The tablecloth was lifted but once again there was no sign of the boy._

_“Louis, baby! Please come out!” Harry yelled, thinking of nowhere else to look. He fell down on his knees and put his forehead to the table, ready to start crying himself. How could he be so careless? Louis was his first little, and he already screwed everything up. What if the little boy was hurt? What if he did get outside somehow and was lost? He was a horrible dad._

_Harry nearly thought it was himself when he heard the quiet sobbing coming from somewhere in the room. Quickly though, he realized it wasn’t him making the noises._

_“Louis?” He whispered and looked around wondering where the noise was coming from. The sniffles were getting louder. “Louis where are you sweet boy?”_

_Standing up slowly, he immediately caught attention to the china cupboard and the large cabinet at the bottom of it. Louis was just small enough to fit in there. Harry ran over to the cupboard, nearly tripping over his own feet before he pulled the door open. There was Louis, curled up into a little ball crying his eyes out, even more now at the sight of Harry._

_Harry pulled the boy into his lap and hugged him tightly, placing a hundred kisses on his head._

_“Louis, don’t you ever hide like that again. You had Daddy so scared. I thought I lost you.” The feeling of Louis’ warm body in his arms was the only thing he wanted to feel. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Why did Louis hide in the cupboard? Why are you crying, are you hurt? Did you hurt yourself?”_

_Now that he had found him, the panic of losing him had been replaced with the panic of something being wrong. Harry checked all over the boy’s arms, legs, even pulled up his shirt to check his little tummy. Then, he knew. He didn’t know how, but it must have been instinct._

_Harry spoke calmly, rubbing Louis’ back under his shirt. He knew what was about to come._

_“Louis, did you use your diaper?”_

_The question sparked a new fit of cries as Louis tried to squirm his way out of Harry’s arms and onto the floor._

_“No, don’t cry! You’re such a good, brave boy and Daddy is so proud of you. Come on, let’s go to your room so we can change you into a fresh diaper. Then we can eat lunch.”_

_“No change! No change!” Louis was screaming now as Harry tried to wrangle him into his arms. Now successfully carrying the little boy, Harry made his way into the kitchen and pulled one of the pacifiers he had just cleaned out of the draining rack. Without warning, he popped it into Louis’ mouth, knowing it would help to soothe him. Louis’ tear rimmed eyes looked curiously at Harry as his lips started sucking on the rubber that he had began to grow accustomed to over the last several days. He didn’t know why but it was soothing to him, even though he knew the last thing he should be doing was sucking on it._

_“That’s my good boy, my good Louis.” Harry whispered and soon Louis was set on the changing table. His eyes were closed tightly as he was cleaned and put into a new diaper. Louis hardly realized that Harry hadn’t even bothered to strap him down with the velcro until the changing was over._

_“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it? Now you’re fresh and clean. I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. You did so good.” Harry kissed him on the forehead and ran his hands through his hair. “Now let’s go eat.”_

←

Louis hadn’t really been the same since that changing, must like his first. Harry had noticed he was much more mellow even with the medicine before. Louis was just happy to have his mind occupied with something else than the memories of that first time.

“Louis, did you hear me? We’re going to go to the playground for a play date. Daddy is just going to help you get into your shoes and we’ll go.” Louis turned around, noticing Harry’s presence for the first time. He didn’t say anything, only started to play with his fingers. Another thing Harry had noticed that had changed- Louis seemed much more shy around him.

“Come on, little boy.” Louis was lifted into his arms and onto the couch. His blue and green sneakers were velcroed onto his feet and a little jacket was shrugged over his overalls that Harry had grown to love dressing him in. Louis continued to let Harry dress him to go out without complaint. If anything the new idea of some fresh air was appealing to him. He hadn’t been outside since that picnic. He would like to feel the sun again.

\---

When Harry pulled into the parking lot of the little playground, he was surprised to find it for the most part empty. Usually it would be filled with littles and their parents running around, but Harry supposed because the weather was getting colder more people were opting to stay inside or around their house where they could get back in for warmth faster. However, Harry was the opposite and loved going outside no matter the temperature. He couldn’t wait for snow to come so his little boy could have fun sledding with his friends.

He caught sight of both Liam and Anthony’s car and parked near them. Maybe if all went well, they could take the kids out for a treat after they played. 

Louis was taken out of the car and looked around at the playground cautiously before looking up at Harry for some signal of what to do next. The man smiled and took the boy’s hand, leading him towards the benches where his friends were sitting.

“Remember Louis, you have to behave.”

Louis looked away and blushed. He hated when Harry spoke to him as if he were truly a little boy. 

“Louis. Good to see you.” Liam jumped up and gave Harry a quick hug. “Nice to see you’re doing well with this little cutie. Hi, Louis. How are you honey?”

Louis bit his lip and look away from the man staring down at him.

“Still shy, I see? That’s okay, you’ll know me better soon enough.” Liam smiled. He loved littles, but new littles were some of the cutest around. They were always shy and nervous about everything, especially so when they were on the beginning medications, which Liam knew Louis was taking. It made sense that Louis would be overly sensitive now.

“Hi, Liam. Anthony.” Harry greeted the men and then looked behind him to search for the little ones. He spotted Ethan and Zayn poking each other sitting over some of the big slides. When he couldn’t locate Anthony’s little girl, he turned around concerned.

“Where’s Celeste?”

Anthony raised his eyebrows. “She’s sitting under the little bridge before the monkey bars over there. Won’t come out. I’m just going to let her stay there- there’s no use forcing her to do anything if she’ll get upset over it.” 

Harry nodded grimly. “At least you’re trying. I know she can be difficult, so I’d say it’s a success that she’s actually here.”

“You’re telling me. It took an hour to convince her to leave the house without screaming. She’s tough, that one. But I’ll have a hold of her soon enough. Some just take time, you know?”

Harry could vividly remember the horror story that involved Celeste being brought home. She had somehow managed to escape the first night, making it three blocks away before the local securities could track her down and bring her back home. But of course, not before she bit one of them so hard they had to go to the hospital. Celeste didn’t stop screaming for two days for someone to help her. He remembered Ms Hamilton recommending Anthony to sedate her for her own safety, but he was so adamant on not giving her any drugs.

In the end, he was forced to give her a sedative because her screaming had become too much. The counselors agreed she needed to be brought into the life slowly, and so for the last two months she’d been eased into activities and habits. Bringing her into everything at once, which was a tactic that worked for most littles, wouldn’t be safe to try with her.

“Just the fact that she isn’t running away now shows you’ve made progress.” Harry commented. Looking down at Louis, he nudged the boy towards the playground. “Go on and play, sweetie. Daddy’s going to be right here. Just come right up to me if you need anything.”

Louis was left to his own devices when Harry took a seat beside Liam and the men continued their conversation. It didn’t take long for Louis to become too distracted by the boys sitting above the slides for his interest in what they were talking about to fade away. Slowly, he walked over to them. The boy with the darker hair noticed this and pushed himself down the slide. 

“Hi Louis.” He said, a thumb half hanging out of his mouth. “Do you remember me? My name is Zayn.” The boy smiled at Louis. Zayn was the “oldest” out of all the littles in Harry’s friends social group. He didn’t wear diapers, only pull ups and prided himself on the fact that his Daddy trusted him enough with his hands to let him drink out of cups without lids on them. He had his own special Power Rangers cup that he liked to bring with him everywhere. Ethan, his little brother, was quite the opposite, still wearing diapers. Even though he was still around the age Harry was aiming Louis to regress to, he still drank out of bottles. Liam didn’t mind of course, he loved nurturing and babying Ethan just as much as he loved helping Zayn to potty train.

Not receiving an answer, Zayn frowned. “Do you wanna play with us, or do you wanna be alone like Celly? Celly doesn’t like playing.” The boy looked at the ground. “I don’t think Celly likes me. But you like me, don’t you Louis?”

Louis blushed, turning and catching a glimpse of the little girl Celeste sitting under the bridge. She was watching the boys with a blank expression on her face. She was dressed in a light green and orange plaid baby doll dress and hair tied in pigtails much like the other little girl who had taken a liking to him at the picnic. What had her name been? Penny? Celeste gave Louis a very different feeling than Penny had given him. Penny was innocent, like her brain had been entirely washed clean and she truly believed she was actually a little girl. Celeste’s eyes had something else in them.

“I like you.” Louis said quietly, because maybe he actually did. There seemed something inviting about Zayn and Ethan and he wanted to spend more time with them.

Zayn gave him a big grin. “Come on, let’s go on top of the slides. I can go down the biggest one, do you want to watch?” Zayn smirked and ran towards the stairs. Louis followed slowly behind, taking care to hold on to the railing. From his seat on the bench, Harry smiled at the gesture.

Ethan smiled at Louis from behind his pacifier but said nothing. 

“Ethan doesn’t say a lot of stuff.” Zayn explained as he positioned himself atop the slide. “But he’s my baby brother so he’s really cool. You’re really cool too, Louis.”

“Thanks.” Louis whispered and sat next to Ethan. Gently, he felt his hand taken by the boy who let out a little giggle. 

“See, he likes you. He likes to hold hands with all of his friends. Now watch me!” Zayn slid down the slide, the biggest one obviously, and yelled ‘ta-da’ when he got to the bottom.

“You’re so brave, little man!” Liam yelled from over at the benches and Zayn beamed at the praise. Zayn had always thrived off of being assured he was doing a good job, and Liam knew this. It was the reason he had began giving the boys stickers when they behaved well. Both Ethan and Zayn had their own sticker books to keep their prizes in.   
“Daddy can I have a juicebox please? I’m thirsty.” Zayn turned around and ran to Liam, and Ethan and Louis were left alone on the playground platform. Looking at Ethan, the boy was fiddling with the buttons on his shirt, giving Louis the sense that he wouldn’t be up for much conversation. Louis looked up and saw Harry smiling at him. The man gave a little wave and the boy found himself smiling a little back. He wanted to hate it, but it seemed lately the attention he was receiving made him feel good. It was very complicated.

Louis turned back around and looked at the girl Celeste. She was still watching him.

“Ethan, I’m going to say hi to her.” Louis said and the boy with the pacifier bobbed in head in understanding and went back to playing with his fingers. The climb down the playground platform was easy and Louis approached Celeste under the bridge.

All the while she never took her eyes off of him.

When he was finally within speaking distance, she was the one to speak first.

“You’re Louis, right? Anthony told me about you.” Celeste picked at a couple flowers that were growing around the base of the bridge.

“Yeah. And you’re Celeste?” Louis sat down cross legged and pulled his jacket around him tighter. The breeze was beginning to pick up and it was getting chilly.

“Yeah.” The girl bit her lip. “And you’re also the newest one here, which means you’re like me, right?” 

“What do you mean?”

“You know that none of this stuff is okay, right? That they abducted us? That you’re not actually a little kid?” Celeste practically growled her words. Louis could feel the anger she felt at her own situation and suddenly he understood why she wasn’t approaching Zayn or Ethan or even any of the others at the picnic from before. She didn’t want to give Anthony the pleasure of knowing she was losing herself to the treatment. She even called him by his name instead of Daddy like the other littles normally would.

The thought of calling Harry his Daddy felt foreign. Still, he hadn’t really called him anything yet, not even his name, and Harry hadn’t said anything yet. Most of the time he just thought of him as the man.

“Yeah. I think so.” Louis said and looked at her with his head tilted. Celeste sighed and pressed her hands to her head.

“I can tell you’re drugged. I heard Anthony talk about it with Liam. He gave you Charox didn’t you? That’s what Anthony tried to give me. It wears off after about a week, so unless he doses you up again you’ll be back to normal like me.”

“What does it do?” Louis whispered, suddenly scared and held his tummy. He knew he’d been given something but Harry had only talked about it minimally. 

“It messes with your head. That’s what.” Celeste looked behind her cautiously before continuing. “You know, before I got taken here my boyfriend was going to school and I used to look through his textbooks. I remember reading something about Charox there, and it’s illegal to use here. It’s some kind of fucked up roofie.”

Louis flinched at her curse word. It had been a while since he heard one of those and for some reason it suddenly made him uncomfortable. He looked down at the ground shyly.

Celeste sighed. “Sorry. I know it makes you more sensitive to the treatment Harry is giving you, but you have to fight against it. It’s controlling you now but it won’t later, not if you don’t let it. You have to get your mind out of this headspace and work on figuring out a way to get the hell out of here. That’s what I’m doing.”

“I don’t know how.” Louis said quietly, catching himself quickly before his thumb slipped into his mouth. He didn’t want to suck it in front of this girl.

Celeste looked at him carefully. “Well for now you have to memorize every inch of Harry’s house. Even the roads around it. Get to know where everything is. Trust me, I’ve tried escaping more than once and none of them worked because I didn’t know where to go when I got away. If your plan is good and organized then you have more than a fighting chance. They depend on you not knowing anything.”

“That sounds..hard.” Louis’ lip quivered and he held his tummy tighter. He didn’t like talking about this, he was starting to feel like Harry could hear every word and get mad at him. 

No Louis. Why do you care about whether or not he’s mad? 

“It’s no use talking about it to you now.” Celeste groaned. “Everything I say is just going to get out one ear because you don’t understand you have to fight back against your mind. It’s better I just wait until you’re out of this daze.”

Just then, Louis heard Harry call him over. “Louis, sweetie. Do you want a snack? Your Uncle Liam brought some yummy fruit.” Louis took the opportunity to leave Celeste. He knew what she was saying was important, but he didn’t really know why. More importantly, he didn’t know why he didn’t care. And did he just say Uncle Liam?

\---

The boys spent some more time with each other after they ate. Liam had brought a big fruit salad in a cooler. Louis ate pieces with his hands like the other boys instead of using forks like Celeste and the men, but it didn’t pass through his head as strange. When he was done his hands were sticky and Harry cleaned them for his with a wet wipe. It seemed almost normal to him. The motions were becoming familiar, but the motives behind them were not.

They played on the swings, and then Harry helped Louis on the monkey bars and just like Liam had, praised him when he got to the other side. 

They had been at it for an hour and a half when Harry announced it was nice to go out for hot chocolate. Zayn cheered and ran fully loaded towards the car, practically begging to be put in his car seat. Ethan toddled after him trying to keep up.

\---

“Don’t burn yourself, sweetie. Wait a few more minutes for it to cool down.” Louis was currently strapped into a restaurant high chair looking around nervously. It was a bakery in Lake Genevieve that was popular for its treats, being one of the more favored places of all the littles.

Harry had bought Louis a hot chocolate and an M&M cookie to munch on. 

“Celly, are you sure you wouldn’t like anything else?” Anthony was trying hard to get Celeste to engage with the others but it wasn’t working. She just nodded her head no and continued to hold onto her hot chocolate. “Maybe a cookie like Louis? They have really yummy brownies. I want you to have a fun time today.”

“I said no!” Celeste finally had enough. “If I say no, I mean no!” 

Anthony frowned. “Little girl, do not talk to me like that. Apologize now.” 

Louis watched in shock as the girl’s face began to turn red. “No! I don’t need to apologize for anything! This whole day has consisted of you trying to get me to act like some ignorant little kid who only cares about hot chocolate and slides. I am not Zayn and I’m not Ethan either. I’m an adult and I’ve been through months of this torture and I’ve had enough!” 

Anthony, clearly not willing to try and calm her down any further stood up out of his hair. “That’s it. You’ve earned yourself a spanking. One day when you learn how to be a good little girl maybe I won’t have to do this.”

“No! Don’t come near me!” Celeste by now was causing a huge commotion in the bakery, even some of the workers had stopped to watch what was going on. In a fit of anger Celeste picked up her hot chocolate and threw it off her high chair table, just missing Anthony by a few inches.

“No! Don’t do this!” She was promptly picked up and hauled onto his hip. The man held her hands together so she couldn’t swipe at him and looked sadly at Liam and Harry.

“I’m sorry, I have to take her home now. Can you please take care of that hot chocolate for me? I don’t want to keep her out when she gets like this.”

Harry nodded his head understanding the dilemma. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”

The man left with the little girl screaming and Harry stood up to grab some napkins to clean up the mess she made from throwing the drink, but one of the employees stopped him.

“Don’t worry, sir. I’ll have it mopped up.” The girl smiled. “You wouldn’t believe how many temper tantrums we get in here, it’s no big deal.”

While she got set to cleaning up the puddle of hot chocolate, Harry took a seat back at the table and looked concerned at Liam. “Is it normal for a little to go on for so long without even adjusting at all? I mean, she was great at the park but it seems even her vocabulary hasn’t gone down.” He spoke quietly as not to grab the attention of the little boys still having their treats.

Liam nodded. “I know, it’s strange. I feel bad for the guy sometimes. All he ever wanted was to have a sweet little girl. Ms. Hamilton says she’s taking things at her own pace but I worry from time to time. She seems very aggressive towards him. I just hope she begins to settle soon.”

“She was talking to Louis earlier. Is it bad if I almost wanted to bring him away from her? I just don’t want her to confuse him, but I know it’s important for her to socialize. I didn’t want to offend Anthony, because he’s such a nice guy.”

Louis could still hear the conversation even though they were speaking low. He sort of felt bad for the girl, she was obviously in a position that pained her a lot. He couldn’t imagine himself throwing a hot chocolate at Harry, but it began to make him wonder about the things she was saying earlier. Could he really fight against the warped feeling the drug was giving him?


	7. Spilled Glitter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2016 everyone! I hope you all had an amazing New Years and I wish you all the best for the next 12 months. Stick to those New Years Resolutions and lets have a great year :)  
> I'm so sorry I didn't post yesterday! I wasn't expecting to be out all day long so when I got home I was exhausted and couldn't stay awake to go over the chapter, but I made sure to get it out for you guys today :)
> 
> Lots of stuff happens in this chapter and also opens up for the exciting adventure Louis will have in the next chapter (Penny's birthday). Expect some fun Celeste action and some other surprises.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read and I will see you guys next week!

“It’s just a little checkup, sweetheart. Nothing to be scared of. Ms Alivia is a very nice lady.”

Louis and Harry were currently on their way to Ms Hamilton’s office. Harry was aware that the Charox was well worn off, meaning he might as well have been dealing with a time bomb. He had not even a clue what was going on in the little boy’s mind. He figured a trip to the counselor’s was in order, just to get some insight and possibly some help with regressing Louis’ mind a bit like she had done before. Whatever it took, he did not want a replay of the bath time incident. Nor did he want to give Louis anymore medicine dosage.

Harry looked in the rearview mirror at the boy and smiled. Louis was very calm, looking out the window sitting in his carseat quietly. When the boy’s eyes shifted to the mirror and met Harry’s, he blushed and looked away quickly. It was certain that something was different with him, though what exactly was unclear to the man.

They were let into the large office space in the town hall quickly. The room was bright and colorful, with sky blue walls adorned with posters and countless photo frames of littles in the town. Alivia prided herself in being one of the more preferred counselors in Lake Genevieve, especially by the little ones. One of their favorite things about visiting her in her office was her huge selection of toys. She had a special corner dedicated to the little ones who came in to see her, fit with a play kitchen, a table always stocked with crayons and coloring pages, a car racetrack, and a dress up box among other things.

She had always known that the key to getting into a little’s mind was to engage with them through things they liked to do. Of course, playing was always high on that list. That was why she had prepared herself and already set out a brand new set of Duplo blocks for Louis to play with. She had noticed how much he seemed to enjoy them at her house call and wanted him to be comfortable. Alivia knew he was going to be one of her more difficult challenges, but she was determined to help him and Harry settle into their new roles.

“Hi, Louis!” Alivia bent down like she always did, taking the little boy’s hands in hers. “How are you? I’ve missed you so much.” 

“Hi.” Louis said cautiously, but didn’t do much else. This was the first thing the woman noticed about him. He was strangely calm, but still not regressed, even though the process was often sped up from the use of medications. There had to be another way to bring him into his place.

“Have you been a good boy for your Daddy? I heard we had a little naughty incident.”

“Yes, I’ve been trying to forget about that.” Harry put a hand to his forehead, rubbing at it. He couldn’t forget how frightened he had been that day. The difference between that Louis and his Louis were strikingly different. 

“Well, hopefully our playtime today will help us all settle in a bit, huh Louis? I also heard you went to the park with some of your friends. Was that fun?”

Harry bent down to whisper in his ear. “Don’t be shy, sweetie.”

Louis looked at Ms Hamilton with a confused look on his face, as if he was forgetting where he was, but quickly answered after Harry’s instruction. “Yeah.” He said quietly bringing his hands together in front of his belly.

Ms Hamilton gave him a big smile. “That’s awesome!” She stood up straighter, still holding his hand. “Come over here with me, sweetheart. I have a fun surprise for you!”

Louis let himself be led over to the toy corner and his eyes set on the Lego box set on a table. 

“I remembered how much you loved them and I thought it would be fun to play with them while we talked today. Would you like that?”

Louis smiled shyly and sat down. He had a weakness for Legos. Even before Harry had taken him, he had sometimes treated himself to one of the Lego model building kits if he had extra money. These blocks were bigger and much more simple, but there was still something about putting them together that made him feel comfortable- like everything was still normal.

The three began building with the blocks, working together silently for about five minutes until Ms Hamilton decided it was time to begin her work.

She looked up at the little boy across from her and smiled. He was cute, and it was obvious he had gained a little bit of weight since his time at Harry’s even though it had been only a short time. His face was rounder and looked even more youthful from her last visit with him. 

“So Louis, how are you liking your new home?” She prodded gently, but it was enough to get the boy to stop what he was doing and look up at her.

“I don’t know..” He said slowly and turned to look at Harry timidly. 

“Does your Daddy give you lots of attention?” 

“Well.. yeah.” Louis knew that was true. These days Harry barely left his side. And if he was gone, he was only in the other room making food or getting him something quickly. 

“And does he feed you yummy food? Do you have lots of nice toys to play with?”

Louis blushed. “Yeah?”

“Then it seems to me like your new house must be a pretty cool place, huh? You have everything you need.”

This was the fact that often confused Louis to no end. He felt like he should have been expecting something bad to happen with him and Harry, but each day that passed proved nothing of that sort. He didn’t feel threatened by the man. Louis felt as though he had seen enough of went on in Lake Genevive to understand that nobody wanted to hurt him or even kill him. Still it was the thought of home that often got him agitated. He hadn’t asked to be brought to this place or to be treated this way, but here he was anyways.

“Still isn’t home.” Louis said, putting his current block down. He suddenly felt more aware of himself and his surroundings as if a fog had been lifted.

Alivia, taking notice of this change, set to reverse it quickly.

“Why don’t you sit on your Daddy’s lap and help him with his blocks? You seem really good at it. I can tell that you like Legos a lot.”

Without any warning, Louis felt Harry’s hands under his arms and he was transferred like a puppy to the man’s lap. Harry’s chest was warm and Louis could smell the man’s cologne. The familiar scent caused his mind to drift away for a second, remembering the morning and how he had waken up.

→

_Louis was murmuring in his sleep. Harry had heard him a little while before on the baby monitor and had now been watching over his little boy for about 10 minutes. It was amusing to watch Louis’ little face go from peaceful to scrunching up and pouting with little whimpers. It almost seemed like he was talking to himself in his sleep. The boy was sleeping on top of his blanket and was wearing a turtle onesie that Harry had discovered while browsing some online stores. He knew that his boy would look adorable in it and he was right._

_Harry couldn’t help himself, he reached forward and touched the little turtle shell that was where Louis’ tummy was and felt the soft fabric. Soft fabric on soft skin, his little boy was perfect. The touch caused Louis to still under his hands, head rolling to his right towards Harry._

_It was time for him to wake up, no matter how much Harry would have liked to continue watching his little movements._

_His hand wandered from his tummy to his little boy’s face where he softly cupped his cheek and chin. After a few seconds of contact, Louis’ eyes began to flutter open and the first thing he saw that day was Harry smiling down at him._

_“Good morning, sweet boy.” Louis was still only on the brim of consciousness and struggled to focus his eyes for more than a few seconds on the face before him. After a minute he decided to ignore the wake up call and close his eyes again. A laugh came from above him._

_“You’ve gotten plenty of sleep, little man. It’s time to wake up. We have some places to go today and some errands you’re going to run with Daddy. Sound fun?” Louis was lifted into the man’s arms, his head tucking into his neck. Harry was already freshly showered and Louis could smell that cologne he always wore._

_“No thanks.” Louis moaned and wished he could just continue to sleep. He had been having a good dream and didn’t want it to end. He had dreamed that he was back in school and was cramming for a final. Maybe anybody else would have regarded it as a nightmare, but imagining his house in his mind and the warm lights of his bedroom had been comforting._

_“Let’s just get you dressed and ready for the day, then I bet you’ll be awake and ready for some breakfast. I’m thinking some nice waffles today.”_

→

Waffles. Louis couldn’t deny that his breakfast had been exceptionally good, better than anything he would have had at his old house by himself. Most of the time he had skipped breakfast, but the rare days he did eat in the morning it was usually only cereal, nothing special. Before Harry, he couldn’t remember the last time he had actually eaten a nice, well-prepared meal in the morning.

“That’s better. See? Isn’t it lots of fun to spend time with your Daddy? You must love playing at home with him with all those cool toys he’s bought you. But I happen to know something you might be interested in.”

“What?” Louis’ curiosity was obvious.

“Well, Louis, I talked to your Daddy yesterday and we both agreed it might be nice for you to have a fun trip to the toy store to pick up a special toy. How would you like that?”

Louis could feel Harry’s head resting atop his own, he could feel the man’s eyes looking down at him thoughtfully. He dropped the block again and wrapped his arms around his tummy.

“Maybe..” Louis was quiet and looked at Ms Hamilton with big eyes. At the offer of going out she suddenly seemed a whole lot nice than before. 

“Would you like to go now?”

“What do you say, sweetie?” Harry said softly so only Louis could hear him. “Would you like to pick out your own stuffed toy? You don’t have one and I thought it would be nice for you to find one you liked yourself.”

He could pick it out himself? The hint of the independence involved made Louis make up his mind quickly.  
“I want to go.”

\---

Harry had been told by countless parents how much having a stuffed animal had helped their little ones to regress and settle down the first month of being in the town. Nobody really quite understood why the toy helped the little ones, but it had quickly become a sort of right of passage for littles to pick out their own stuffed toys at the toy shop in town. What had at first been only a small section with a few animals to pick out had quickly become huge with countless options. It seemed as though every little had a few favorites, but there was always one stuffed animal that stood out the most to them.

Harry smiled at the thought of Monica’s little girl Penny and how she constantly dragged around her bunny with her, but the idea of Louis doing the same made him smile even bigger. So when Ms Hamilton had suggested Louis take the prized trip to the store, Harry had been quick to agree, confident that this was just what Louis needed.

Louis stood between Ms Hamilton and Harry and looked wide eyed at the shelves filled with stuffed toys. Even when he had went to toy shops in the past he never remembered seeing such a huge selection. It seemed strange that a store would have so many of one particular thing, but he didn’t question it. He only gazed at all the options. Maybe a few weeks before he would have scoffed at the idea of buying a stuffed animal, but now it didn’t seem as crazy a thought. 

“Do you see any you like Louis?” Ms Hamilton questioned the boy but he didn’t answer. He was too busy looking at all the choices. None of them had caught his eye yet. That is, until he caught sight of a bumble bee. It was big and plush and when he reached out and touched the wings he was nearly put in a trance at how soft they were. This was the one he wanted.

Louis took it off the shelf and quickly gave it to Harry who looked at the bee fondly. 

“You can hold it if you’d like, Louis.” Harry offered, but the boy shook his head and instead began going down the nearest aisle to get to the register.

“He’s still hesitant. But he’s getting better. And I’m surprised at his progress because he isn’t on any medicine. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.” Ms Hamilton patted Harry on the back leaving the man more confident than he had been a second before. He stood a little taller as he rushed forward so as not to lose his little one.

After saying their goodbyes to Alivia, Harry took care to pick Louis up and set him in his car seat, strapping him in. He had already pulled out of the plaza parking lot when he adjusted his mirror so he could better see Louis in the backseat.The little boy had the bee on his lap, but was only staring at it. He didn’t touch it or hold on to it tightly. It seemed as if he was still judging on whether he really wanted it or not. Of course, Harry knew the boy wanted it or else his eyes wouldn’t have lit up so brightly when he had first spotted it. Now it was only a matter of getting over the words in his mind telling him that he wasn’t supposed to have it.

“Does Louis think he can stay awake for just a little bit longer so Daddy can pick something up at his friend’s house?” The boy was obviously getting a bit tired. His adventure at the toy store, though short, had excited him and the prospect of picking out a toy for himself must have been emotionally draining. 

“I dunno.” More short, choppy answers. That seemed to be all he was getting out of the boy today. 

“You’ll get to see Zayn and Ethan again. I know you had a fun time on your play date with them. They loved getting to see you.” 

The play date now suddenly fresh in his mind, Louis sat up a little straighter. “What about Celeste?”

Harry’s eyes widened as he looked back at Louis. His hair was messed up in the front with one of his shoes un-velcroed.It was strange to hear a suddenly older sounding voice with such a little looking boy. 

“She’s with her Daddy, probably at home. Why sweetheart?” Harry hoped whatever the girl had said to him wasn’t still floating around in his mind. The last thing he needed was anymore doubts of what he was supposed to be doing fighting back. Celeste was a cute looking girl, no doubt smart and witty, but it was exactly those two traits that made Harry question her position as a little. He wasn’t positive on how she had been located or why Anthony had chosen her, but he wasn’t one to question such personal choices.

Of course, no counselor would have accepted Celeste as Anthony’s choice little unless they thought she would eventually blend into the community and settle into her role. They had to have observed her for a while, noticed her habits and quirks in order to tell if she would have been suited for Lake Genevieve. If they had found anything suggesting that she didn’t match a true little’s profile, she would never have came here. He just had to trust them.

“Oh. Okay.” Louis didn’t answer the question, but Harry decided not to prod. It might be better just to ease out of the conversation than continue to pursue it.

He pulled into Liam’s driveway like he had done a million times before. He had been talking to Liam the night before on the phone when the subject of books had come up, and Liam remembered a few picture books that Zayn had loved when he first arrived. The man had offered to lend them to Harry for Louis’ use. Liam was like that, always looking out for ways to help other people. And Harry really appreciated it, anything that would help Louis he was willing to try out.

“Would you like to ring the doorbell, sweet tart?”   
Louis bit his lip and reached forward, pressing it and flinching slightly at the loud noise. In under five seconds a face was pressed up against the glass beside the door- Zayns. The boy was clearly hyper. As soon as he caught glimpse of Louis his eyes widened and he ducked away, probably to go find his Daddy and get him to open the door faster. Zayn knew better than to undo the lock himself- the last time he had done that he ended up over Liam’s lap.

The door was opened by Liam with a bouncy Zayn kneeling on the floor right behind him. 

“Hey guys. Come on in. Sorry for the mess, the boys are having a bit of an arts and crafts day today.” Liam wasn’t lying, as soon as Harry and Louis walked inside the house they could see the living room was filled with paper, colored pencils, crayons, and markers. There were gluesticks upside down on the carpet and Louis noticed an entire container of glitter knocked over and spilling onto the coffee table.

“Why don’t you go play with Zayn and Ethan while Daddy goes and talks with Liam, huh?” Harry prodded Louis forward deeper into the living room. From across the room, Ethan waved shyly at him while one of his hands was in his mouth.

“Guess what I’m making!” Zayn ran into the room and fell onto the floor by his station where a folded piece of colored paper was. “I’m making a birthday card for Penny because it’s gonna be her birthday soon. Do you like it?” Zayn held up the card proudly to show Louis. A few hearts were drawn on the front of it with shaky, misspelled handwriting somehow writing out “Happy Birthday Penny”.

Louis nodded and sat down next to the boy.

“Are you going to her birthday party? It’s gonna be so cool and it’s gonna be outside with a scavenger hunt and everything! Daddy says you’re gonna go too.”

“Maybe.” Louis said, though he hadn’t heard anything about it from Harry yet. Possibly because he hadn’t thought to tell him yet. 

“I got a secret for you.” Zayn said. “I know what Penny wants to get for her birthday presents.” Zayn motioned for Louis to lean in closer to him as if telling him a great secret. “You know Penny’s got a bunch of dolls and she likes dressing them up and stuff. So she likes to get doll clothes for them. Don’t tell anyone else! Penny told me, and I wanted to get her the greatest gift, but because you’re really nice we can both get her the greatest gifts.”

Louis blushed at the small compliment and nodded his head, promising he wouldn’t tell anyone else the secret.

“As you can see they’ve gotten into.. whatever it is they’re doing.” Louis could hear Liam laugh behind him and quickly spun around to see both Zayn and Ethan’s Daddy and Harry standing above the group of three.

“I’m making Penny’s birthday card! See Daddy!” Zayn held up the card once more and grinned at his Daddy, hoping he would be as proud of it as he was.

“That’s so nice, sweetheart. You did a very good job on it.” Liam looked fondly down at his little boy and then back at Harry. “You and Louis will be going to her party, right? I had just assumed you would.”

“Yeah, we’re going to try our best to make it. Maybe we’ll pick up a gift for her later this week before Saturday comes around. Monica seems really excited for it.”

“She told me Penny helped her pick out all the party favors. She was so proud.” Louis vaguely remembered Penny as being the jumpy little girl at the picnic who wore those yellow ribbons in her hair. He remembered how she had thrown herself at him and smiled when she declared him as her friend.

“Would you like to go to Penny’s party, Louis? All your friends will be there, and there’ll be cake and lots of other treats.”

Louis didn’t know why the word cake was getting him so excited all of a sudden, but he didn’t hesitate at all before giving a small smile and a little ‘yes’. 

“Well, I don’t want to keep you too long. If I do, Louis might just go home with glue and glitter all over his hair.” The men chuckled to themselves as Harry picked up Louis and settled him on his hip. Louis held tightly onto Harry’s shirt and looked nervously at the ground, but was reassured he wouldn’t fall by Harry.

“Daddy has you. Wave bye-bye to your friends, baby.”

Louis waved with his fingers, watching as Zayn’s face began to twist. 

“I don’t want Louis to go, Daddy! I want him to stay here! Stay here!”

“No, Zayn. Remember what we talked about? You can’t have everything your way, or else you’ll turn into a spoiled little boy. Do spoiled little boys get treats and cuddles from their Daddies?”

Zayn sniffled against the tears that were starting to form in his eyes. “No, but Daddy-”

Liam smiled. “Then I think that we have our answer. Louis has to go home, but I’m sure one day Uncle Harry will allow him to stay for a sleepover, then you can spend all the time in the world with him. Now be nice and say goodbye.”

Zayn was still pouting but abided to Liam’s directions. “Bye Louis. Bye Uncle Harry. Love you.”

Harry smiled. “Love you too, little man. I’ll see you real soon, I promise.”

They left before Zayn could throw a bigger temper tantrum.


	8. Not Good (Part I)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys, this might be my favorite chapter yet. I was going to write even more, but I figured since it was getting so long I ought to just turn it into a Part 2 for next week! I'm so excited to finish writing up that part. This is definitely a milestone in Louis' experience with his regression and his relationship with Harry. I sense big changes coming in the future.
> 
> I hope you all love this chapter, as I had an absolute blast writing it. Remember, anything you'd like to see in regards to any of our 6 main littles I'd love to try and incorporate for you in the story. Thanks so much for reading and I will see you next week! :D

Louis, dressed in his now signature overalls and a little green tree t-shirt, walked into Penny’s house holding the wrapped gift he had helped Harry pick out at the toy store. He was nervous looking around the house, as none of the other littles seemed to be there. Only Monica had answered the door for him and Harry and she was now leading them into the kitchen which was way at the back of the house.

“You have no idea how excited Penny is to see Louis again! She wouldn’t stop talking about it all night, took forever to get her to sleep.” Monica bent down a little to be at eye level with Louis as she smiled. “Penny will love your gift, I’m sure. Thank you so much Louis!” She took the box from him and set it on top of the counter where the other gifts were. Louis blushed and looked away.

“Speaking of Penny, where is she and everyone else?” Harry seemed just as stumped as Louis as to the emptiness of the home.

Monica gave a sly look. “You haven’t seen it yet. It was one of her early birthday gifts. Come on out back.” The sliding glass door was opened and the three stepped outside into the warm air. Warm for November anyways. The last week or two had been strangely nice outside that Harry didn’t feel the need to wrap his little boy up in coats and scarves.

As soon as Louis looked up he could see what Monica had been talking about. It was a huge house, well, more of a playhouse. Still, it looked like a large shed and any child Louis had ever known would have been thrilled to have it, so he could only imagine how someone like Penny was dealing with the excitement. The adults were sitting in lawn chairs sipping on their drinks while Louis assumed the littles were inside the playhouse. It was nice looking, painted a light sky blue with little windows and shutters with hearts carved into them, even flower boxes though it appeared they hadn’t been filled yet.

The group hadn’t even been outside a minute before out came running Penny dressed in a puffy blue skirt, a long-sleeved white top, and angel wings. She darted towards Louis and wrapped him up in a tight embrace all while jumping up and down.

“Louis Louis Louis! Penny loves Louis!” She squealed and giggled and patted him on the head nicely to let him know that she was happy he was here.

Louis bit his lip. “Hi Penny.” 

“Louis wants to see Penny’s clubhouse?” She was already grabbing onto his arm and dragging him away. She may have appeared little, but she was strong. “We have lots of fun! Zayn and Ethan and Niall and Celly too but Celly isn’t here yet!”

When the small doors of the playhouse were opened Louis was almost shocked at how elaborate the inside was. It truly was a miniature house, set with a play kitchen, a dining room table and chairs and a little toy box filled with stuffies, toy blocks, and other toys. A small ladder went up to a top floor where Louis could guess a miniature bedroom was by the looks of a blanket hanging down from the floor of it.

“We’re playing house Louis! Does Louis want to play house too?” 

“Hi Louis!” Zayn jumped up from his seat at the table where he had been playing with some fake foods from the kitchen. “Play with us! You can be the other baby with Ethan, because I’m the Daddy and Penny is the Mommy.”

Penny’s eyes lit up. “Louis is Penny’s baby! Come and sit down, Louis.”

Louis was settled onto a chair by Penny who then turned and dug around in the toybox. 

“Penny has her dolly things.” The girl walked back up to the boy with a bib and play bottle in her hand. “Now Penny is going to feed Louis his dinner.”

Louis sat rigidly still as she wrapped the bib around his neck and poked at his mouth with the nipple of the toy bottle. Penny pouted when he didn’t open his mouth. Louis suddenly would have preferred to have still been outside with Harry and the others. 

“Baby needs to eat!” Penny whined and continued prodding at his lips until he finally relented and opened up, letting the bottle be pushed into his mouth. The little girl smiled and patted his head again. 

“Good boy Louis!” Zayn giggled and wandered over to the play stove where for some reason a pan was cooking up a pretend cereal box. Taking the box, he poured the invisible contents into a bowl and set it in front of his brother Ethan who was also sporting a bib similar to Louis’. He smiled, clearly fascinated with the game and pretend to eat out of it with his hands. Louis had grown to understand that Ethan didn’t say much. It seemed that Zayn was the only one who really understood him, even if he didn’t exchange many words with him either.

“Knock knock!” A woman’s voice, Monica’s, was heard behind the front door of the playhouse. “Is Penny in there? I have no idea where she could be!” 

Behind a fit of high-pitched giggles, Penny covered her mouth before letting out a shrill “Nobody home!” She dropped the bottle she had been pretending to feed Louis with on the floor and dropped to the floor to hide under the table. When Monica opened the door, she gasped and put a hand on her hip.

“Where could Penny be? I bet she’d love to know that her friend Celly is here, but since she isn’t home I guess she can always play with her on another day.” 

It didn’t take a second for Penny to crawl out from her hiding space and run to her Mommy tugging on the end of her shirt. “No! Penny wants to play now! Penny loves Celly!” The little girl pushed past the chuckling woman and outside to the yard much like she had done when Louis had arrived. It was clear seeing all of her friends at once was one of her favorite things. Penny had never minded playing alone, but when she got the chance to play with others she always had more fun. 

Before it had always been just her, Zayn, Ethan, and Niall. But with the more recent new additions of Celeste and Louis she had even more people to play with than she knew what to do with. Plus, she hadn’t had the opportunity to see either one of them since Louis’ special welcoming picnic which was another reason why she had been so excited for her party. The girl loved her friends.

Louis followed closely behind Penny, curious since the name Celeste had been brought up. The girl had caught his interest in the park.

There she was, standing with an indifferent expression on her face next to her Daddy. The girl was in another dress, this one however a simple purple one with ribbon around her waist and in her hair serving as a sort of headband. He wondered in regards to her attitude how Anthony ever managed to dress her. He didn’t want to know about what happened at their house.

“Celly!” Penny shrieked and wrapped the girl in a big hug pushing her head against her chest. Monica chuckled and patted Anthony on the back to greet him.

“Hi Penny.” Celeste didn’t seem as bitter to the girl as she usually did, and Louis suspected it was because she didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Penny was extremely deep in the mindset that she really was a little girl, and Louis remembered having the same reaction to her when he first met her. Being mean to her really would feel like being mean to an actual child.

“Now all the people are here, and we can play fun games! Right Mommy?” Penny smiled and looked up from under her eyelashes at Monica, who set her phone down on a foldable table and nodded her head.

“Would you like to start your scavenger hunt sweetie?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” The girl jumped up and down and ran back into the clubhouse, nearly knocking Louis down on her way. She called out Ethan and Zayn, and then Niall who had been napping on the second floor of the playhouse. The little blonde boy yawned and rubbed at his eyes but came outside with no objections.

“Now, kids, we all need to get into little groups of two to play.” Monica was shuffling through a basket on the table looking for the materials she’d tucked away for the game.

“I want to be on a team with Louis.” Celeste spoke up, surprising everyone. Louis looked at her strangely, wondering why she was so adamant on being with him, but said nothing. Penny seemed to pout at the prospect of being separated from Louis, but didn’t admit that it bothered her. Instead, she smiled shyly and walked over to Niall and took his hand.

“Mommy Penny wants to be with Niall.”

“Of course, baby girl. And that leaves Zayn and Ethan to be together. Awesome!” Louis could never get used to the patronizing tones the adults used with the littles.

“What now! What Now!”

Louis couldn’t help but notice that Liam had pulled out a camcorder and had already begun filming the event. He blushed. It was one thing to be forced to act like this, but being filmed acting like it was on a whole different level. He could feel his stomach begin to tighten in discomfort.

“I’m going to read out the first clue to the place where you all need to find in order to get the second clue. Does everyone understand?”

The littles all nodded their heads. Celeste squeezed Louis’ hand with a sly smile on her face.

“Okay, the first clue is a Blue Blanket. Now, where could there be a blue blanket?”

It was as if an explosion had gone off. Everyone went running, eager to find the clue first. Celeste included- she had darted off straight for the direction of the clubhouse. 

“It’s in the clubhouse?” Louis asked, out of breath as he ran after her. But his question was answered when she went straight past the clubhouse door and ran around back of it. She ducked, tugging Louis so he was next to her and then peered around the edge. The rest of the littles had seemed to follow each other into the house along with the adults. They must have figured everyone had went back inside in search of the blanket.

“What are we doing?” Louis asked, his heart beginning to beat faster.

“We’re getting the hell out of dodge, that’s what.”

“But- how did you know they’d all go back inside? How did you know they wouldn’t see us run back here?” Louis just wanted some answers.

“Because Anthony helped Monica make up those stupid scavenger hunt clues. The first clue was the blanket, and I saw it on the couch when we walked through the house to get to the back. But there’s no time for that, if we want to get out of here then we have to go now!”

The two crept together back into the woods that sat behind Penny’s house. Celeste groaned when the ribbon on her dress caught on a branch and tugged it off in a fit of anger, letting it fall to the ground. 

“Where do these woods go? Are you sure they didn’t see us go back here?” Louis wasn’t sure why he was feeling so nervous, but he was. He knew he should have been focusing on getting completely out of sight from the house but something made him keep looking over his shoulder at the yard.

“Honestly? I’m not really sure. But I think it must lead out to a road, maybe a highway. We live only a short distance from Penny’s and sometimes at night I climb out of the crib he sticks me in and look out the window. And I’m on the second floor so I can kind of see over the woods and the trees and I swear I see lights moving, like car headlights or something back here. If we can get out here and flag someone down, we can get away before they can even try to stop us.”

The woods were thick and the pair had a difficult time making their way through the trees, especially since from where they stood there appeared to be no end. But Celeste was convinced this was their chance to escape, so Louis didn’t question her. He needed to escape, wanted to. Staying would be idiotic.

\---

Harry was smiling as Ethan and Zayn ran up to the blanket draped over the couch first. The little boy with the dark hair grabbed it and held it up in the air proudly.

“I got it!”

“Nice job, buddy!” Liam high fived his little boy and Harry’s heart warmed at seeing it. He wondered where his own little one had wandered off to. He turned around, expecting to see Celeste and Louis somewhere a little farther off from the rest of the little ones. They were both still new, nervous, and maybe Celeste was more sneaky than Louis. But when he didn’t catch sight of them he frowned and immediately went up to Anthony.

“Have you seen Celly and Louis? I don’t seem them anywhere?”

At the mention of the two being missing, Anthony’s mouth dropped.

“Shit, I just assumed they followed everyone back inside. Maybe they went upstairs together to get away from everyone else?” 

The party game was put on halt as all the adults began a mad search for the two inside the house. The upstairs was searched, even the basement, but when Celeste and Louis weren’t found everyone knew that they must have stayed outside. And everyone also knew what that meant. Especially since Celeste was involved.

Monica tried to keep the littles entertained.

“How about some yummy snacks? I ordered a big tray of cookies from the bakery.” 

So while she kept the pack in check, Lily, Liam, Anthony, and Harry set outside in an effort to bring them back home before they could get too far away.

Harry was running out of breath, the fear he was feeling bigger than ever before. Sure, he’d been afraid for Louis when he was on the medicine and was sick and when he nearly got the upperhand on him that time before the bath, but this was different. His little boy was gone and he’d let him. He hadn’t had good enough of an eye on him and he had managed to slip away. 

“I can’t believe this is happening- he’s gone. He’s gone.” Harry was fighting back the tears on his face, Liam helping him stay standing up as the search continued. 

“They couldn’t have gotten too far. We just need to find out which way they went and we’ll find them. Littles get out all the time. They’re always found. Don’t worry.”

But how could he not worry?

“I found something!” Lily’s voice was heard and the group immediately ran over to her. She was a little ways into the woods and holding up a piece of shimmery purple ribbon. “Wasn’t this on Celeste’s dress?” Anthony’s eyes widened as he ran over to the woman and the fabric, nodding his head frantically. 

“Yes, they must have went through the woods. We can still catch up to them if we run. These trees go far back.”

And just like that, they were on the littles’ trail.

\---  
They had been running for a while when Celeste stopped. She looked around her, signaling for Louis to quit his sprint as well. She could have sworn she heard something from behind them. A voice shouting out. When she turned around, she could see nobody. 

Then she heard it again. It was definitely a voice, a man’s voice. 

“Shit! They’re following us.” Her face dropped at the idea of being captured again. “We have to move, go right instead of straight ahead, if they think we kept going on towards the road we can buy some time if we go off course.”

“Celeste, what’s going to happen if they get us?” Louis’ voice was wavering on terrified to cautious. He was trying not to seem like he was freaking out, even though he was.

“It’s not good.” Was all Celeste said. Not good. That didn’t sound good.

The chase went on for several more minutes when Celeste spotted a tree with low branches. Then she had the idea.

“We have to climb it. We don’t have another option.” She raced to it, already having her feet on the trunk as she managed to pull herself up. The girl was crafty, Louis had to admit it, but he wasn’t sure it was such a great idea. The leaves on most of the parts of the trees had already fallen to the ground leaving most of the branches bare and easy to spot through.

“What if they see us up there? We’ll be trapped until one of them climbs up to get us. I think we should keep going.”

Celeste groaned. “If you want to keep going, be my guest. But trust me, I’ve done that before and they always get me. I was hoping we would have more time between when we set off and they realized we were gone, but it didn’t work out that way. Now I’m telling you, this is the best option we have right now. So I strongly suggest you start climbing.”

Louis looked up nervously. She was already several feet into the tree and kept going higher. Climbing trees. No big deal, he always used to do it when he was younger. He grabbed on to the same branches she had used and began to scale up, quickly so he caught up to her fast. 

“We have to go to a part where there’s still more leaves. If we’re where it’s bare they’ll spot us easily because we’ll have no coverage.”

“Nice observation, Bill Nye.” 

“And something else, what do we do once they come through here and leave, assuming they do leave. Do we head out for the road again? And for how long do we have to wait?”

“Until nighttime. If one of them is still out here walking around it’ll be easier to get away when it’s dark. Just know that we have to go,” Celeste stretched her arm out towards the direction of the road. “That way. If you go the other way, you’re just going to be bringing yourself back to Lake Genevieve.”

Celeste was about to say something else but immediately stopped. Louis froze. The two were a good ways up the tree now and were sheltered on a branch that had thankfully not lost most of its foliage. They still had a good view of the ground however, and what they saw made both their stomachs drop. 

Liam was walking on the ground near the tree looking around. “Celeste? Louis? Come on now, playtime is over. We’re going to be having cake soon. You wouldn’t want to miss out on that now, would you?” 

The two watched in silence in the tree as Anthony ran up to Liam. “Their tracks stopped and went right. They definitely didn’t go out for the road. I think they must have known we were following them.” 

Liam bit his lip. “Then they must be around this area somewhere.”

As soon as he let out those words, Celeste whimpered quietly and grabbed onto Louis’ hand much like she had done before, only this time Louis knew it was out of fear instead of adrenaline.

“Celly? It’s time to come out. You’re making Daddy very worried.” Anthony’s voice was loud. “Daddy knows you’re scared but there’s no reason for that. We just want to have a fun day for Penny. You don’t want to ruin her birthday, do you?”

At the mention of the little girl, Louis’ mind drifted. He wondered what the littles were doing right now and if they knew what was going on. It was likely they were kept in the dark about these kinds of things. There would be no use to making them scared or stressed out.

“Louis?” Liam called out. “Your Daddy is very, very worried and very sad. He just wants you to be safe. It’s going to get dark out soon and you can get lost and hurt. We only want what’s best for you, sweetie. We can take you home and get you nice and clean in time for cake and presents. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

Louis’ leg suddenly fell asleep, and he could no longer feel the grip he had on branch under him with it. He moved violently forward trying to find his balance. In a panic, Celeste grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back out straight. But not before he could kick a branch and cause it to fall tumbling towards the ground. Louis and Celeste’s eyes widened and they looked at each other, knowing that it was certain Liam and Anthony had seen it fall.

The men on the ground had. And now they were silent, walking towards the fallen branch. They were whispering to each other now, so Celeste nor Louis could hear what they were saying. Louis’ breath started going faster and he couldn’t do anything but blink back his own tears.

“Kids?” Liam approached the branch slowly, and then looked up. Louis looked down. They made eye contact.

It was over.

“Louis? Celeste?” Liam’s voice was soft as he took in the situation. He didn’t want to frighten them anymore than they already were. Which was probably a lot.

Anthony was already dialing his phone to get Lily and Harry to come over since they had continued going straight towards the road, figuring splitting up at the part where the tracks shifted would be the best option. They couldn’t be positive the tracks were from the two, so if everyone had turned right and the littles had actually continued for the road, they would have gotten away.

“I know you two must be very scared right now, but I want you both to come down. You’re both far too little to be playing up in that tree and if one of you falls you’re going to be very hurt. This is serious.” 

“Lil and Harry are on their way over.” Anthony looked up the tree and met eyes with Celeste. She looked scared out of her mind. 

“Celly, come on down for Daddy. He doesn’t want you to get hurt. 

“Leave us alone!” Celeste had had enough. She shifted away from Louis, surprising him when she started to climb up higher. He knew at this point she was acting purely on fear alone, but even he wouldn’t think about going any higher. The branches were starting to get thinner and smaller. “Just let us go!” 

Louis moved towards the tree trunk and hugged it to help his balance now that Celeste had left him alone. He didn’t want to climb down, but he didn’t want to climb up either. He had never felt more trapped.

“Is he up there?” Then he heard Harry’s terrified voice from below him. “Louis, baby!” Louis looked down and met eyes with the man who had been calling him his Daddy for a while now. Louis wasn’t even sure anymore how long he’d been in captivity by the guy. 

“Can you come down on your own, honey? Do you need help?” Harry was under the tree looking at the branches trying to figure out the best way to get up.

When Louis realized this, his tears started coming down harder. He didn’t want to be forced down the tree. He was scared and just wanted to be away from this place. Away from everything. 

Harry could hear his sobbing from up in the branches. 

“Oh, sweetheart.” His heart was breaking at the sound. “Don’t cry, honey. I know you’re very scared right now but Daddy only wants to help you get down safely.”

“I don’t wanna!” Louis cried out and looked up for Celeste. She was several feet above him and it appeared she couldn’t go up any further. 

“Daddy is coming up right now. Stay right there baby.” 

“No! Just stop!” Louis started to shake as Harry scaled the first branch. He was bigger than both Louis and Celeste so it was more difficult for him to get up.

“Calm down, sweetie. You’re going to make yourself fall. I want you to take deep breaths for Daddy. Can you do that?”

Louis pinned himself to the trunk as he watched Harry get closer and closer to him. When he was on the branch just below him, Louis looked up at Celeste in horror.

“Climb higher up! He’s too big, he can’t get up here. The branches won’t support him but they’ll support us. Come on, you have to.” 

Louis decided he had no choice. She was right.

He reached up for a branch above him and began to pull himself up, but not before Harry grabbed onto his ankle. Louis cried out and tried to pull himself higher up but his strength wasn’t like it used to be. Without being able to put his feet firmly on the branch below him, he couldn’t get a good enough grip. Now he was practically dangling.

“Louis, I want you to stop right now.” Harry’s voice was hard now. Louis froze. He had never heard him speak like that before and it made him scared.

“If you move any more, you’re going to fall and get very, very hurt. Do you want that, little boy?”

“I just want to go home!” Louis sniffled and continued holding onto the branch for his life. 

“We will go home, once you calm down and let Daddy help you down. This is not good. That goes for you too, Celeste. You can’t stay up there forever. This is getting ridiculous. I am well aware you’re both very little and very scared but you need to allow us to help you so you can get down safely.”  
Louis turned his neck down at an angle he could see Harry at, but it hurt. He was exhausted. Hungry. He hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, and even then it had only been a little bit of food. Harry hadn’t wanted him to ruin his appetite for the party.

Maybe it would be easier to just go down with Harry. He looked up at Celeste.

“No. You can’t just give up!” She was crying harder now as she realized there was no way for them to get out of this. “Come on! We can just stay up here together! Please!” 

Louis couldn’t face the shame of looking at her and letting her down. He looked down once again at Harry.

“Okay.” He said in a quiet voice. He had been defeated. Harry gave out a thankful sigh.

“Come on baby, I’m going to take your legs and I want you to slowly, lower yourself off the branch. Can you do that for Daddy?”

Louis felt the hands grip around his calves and he took a deep breath before doing what he had been instructed to do. Soon, he was back on the branch he was originally on sitting in Harry’s lap. The man pulled him into a big hug and Louis couldn’t help but cry into his shoulder. He was still scared, but there was something about being back in Harry’s arms that made him feel safer. Even if it was this man he was trying to outrun in the first place.

“You had me so scared.” Harry whispered in Louis’ ear, brushing through his messy hair with his fingers. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” He moved so both their noses touched. Louis’ eyes were filled with tears.

“I thought I lost you. I thought you were hurt, you had no idea what I thought.” Harry’s shaking body clutched Louis closer to him. “My sweet little boy.” 

The two made their way down the tree safely, but that still left Celeste.

“I’m the only one who can get her.” Lily declared. “I’m smaller than both of you. I can get on those higher branches and coax her down.

Anthony looked at her nervously. “Are you sure? I can go up-”

Lily shook her head. “No, you can’t. You’re too big. I have this, don’t worry.”

Seeing Lily about to climb up for her, and seeing that she had run out of options, Celeste gave up. She figured it was better to go down on her own terms. At least then she might keep just a little bit of her on dignity.

“I’ll.. I’ll come down.” She said in a shaky voice.

Anthony let out a sign like never before. “Daddy will come up a few branches, baby, and help you down. Don’t worry, you’ll be okay.”

As Celeste began to climb down, Harry sat cross legged on the ground with Louis in his lap, rocking him and humming in his ear. Louis could feel himself become sleepy, the repeated motion in Harry’s arms causing his eyes to begin to flutter. His arms and hands were hurting and his back most of all from not being supported in the tree.

“Daddy has you.” Harry kept whispering to him and Louis swore he would never be able to put a finger on what he was feeling right then. Scared and comfortable, but anxious yet still calm. He didn’t know what it was.

All he knew was that when he got back to Harry’s house, he was in for something not good. 

At least that was how Celeste had described it.


End file.
